Hampton Roads Transportation

[urbanvb]

Thanks for the update, Orulz. Last I heard was they were going to do both the Norfolk and the Peninsula connection so now it is down to one eh. I would think they would definitely choose the Norfolk one since almost a million people live on this side of the water. If my memory serves me correctly the Norfolk station would be located near Harbor Park.

[lammius]

I think the Norfolk route is more favorable by the people doing this because they can get up to higher speeds, have fewer crossings, etc.. along the 460 way than the I-64 way. Though the I-64 way might get it because of Williamsburg location halfway between...

The speeds would certainly be higher on the Southside route because the ROW is a nearly perfect straight line on a large portion of the route. There is a lot of curvature on the Peninsula route. Additionally, the stop for Williamsburg slows the trip even more. If it is determined that the market in Norfolk is large enough that it can support an HSR operation on its own, I think the Southside route the best candidate.

[orulz]

Well, there's nothing saying that they can't do both eventually, But one has to come first. And I think it should absolutely be Norfolk. Actually I think they should run the trains clear to Virginia Beach using the freight line being looked at for LRT or BRT, but that's another story.

Anyway, Newport News already has conventional rail service clear to Boston, so I say it's Norfolk's turn now. As for NN, leave aside the costly high-speed track upgrades and realignments for now, and institute less costly improvements like a new downtown multimodal station and better frequency (four or six trains a day instead of two) to satisfy folks on both sides of the peninsula.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

Well, there's nothing saying that they can't do both eventually, But one has to come first. And I think it should absolutely be Norfolk. Actually I think they should run the trains clear to Virginia Beach using the freight line being looked at for LRT or BRT, but that's another story.

Anyway, Newport News already has conventional rail service clear to Boston, so I say it's Norfolk's turn now. As for NN, leave aside the costly high-speed track upgrades and realignments for now, and institute less costly improvements like a new downtown multimodal station and better frequency (four or six trains a day instead of two) to satisfy folks on both sides of the peninsula.

I think there's far more potential for the Norfolk sub-market to have the rail-access to Richmond and the Northeast, whereas I can see Newport News being more-oriented towards local and regional transit at least in the near-term.

A new station in DT Norfolk would be yet another boon to the growth there! I'd love to see it come to fruition.

[rusthebuss]

Me too! Either way I think it would be a plus no matter where it lands in this area. The problem i see with the pennisula route is parking and also crossing the tunnel and in many peoples thoughts you cross the tunnel you might as well keep on hiking it up 64

[vdogg]

Regions transportation receives near failing grade

As if anyones surprised by this.

[rusthebuss]

Regions transportation receives near failing grade

As if anyones surprised by this.

Better fix it so the port doesn't suffer from lack of mobility in the area. Then we will run into the LA problem.

[br0guy]

Thanks for the update, Orulz. Last I heard was they were going to do both the Norfolk and the Peninsula connection so now it is down to one eh. I would think they would definitely choose the Norfolk one since almost a million people live on this side of the water. If my memory serves me correctly the Norfolk station would be located near Harbor Park.

There is also a proposed light rail station at Harbor Park as well. It would be nice to catch the regional from Richmond and transfer to the light rail to get around the city. If VA Beach would get its act together and get in the light rail mix, I could ride that bad boy all the way out to the beach

Looking at the map for the proposed regional line, it would give commuters from Suffolk, Chesapeake, and the Southside of Norfolk another option to get to work DT (depending on how often the trains run).

[urbanvb]

Hopefully one day this will happen although I wouldn't wager on how long. It has been reported that the Beach has been speaking with Norfolk Southern about buying the old line that runs to the Oceanfront. That would be awesome having a line from the Oceanfront to DT Norfolk.

[br0guy]

Hopefully one day this will happen although I wouldn't wager on how long. It has been reported that the Beach has been speaking with Norfolk Southern about buying the old line that runs to the Oceanfront. That would be awesome having a line from the Oceanfront to DT Norfolk.

I'm skeptical too. In the past, VA Beach has shown resistance to urbanization... maybe Town Center will change that way of thinking.

[urbanvb]

[odumonarch]

How about the line to the airport and/or Old Dominion? The airport might badly need a line due to traffic/overcrowding. I've looked at the possible link to Old Dominion University, since a lot of students commute to the university daily, and parking at ODU is a severe problem already, and will get worse with part of the overflow lot closed for construction of the new quad student housing. Providing a link to both will greatly enhance Norfolk's economy, while clearing up all of the city's traffic woes. Hampton Blvd gets bottlenecked every afternoon due to sheer amount of students and faculty leaving, plus the terminals and the Navy base.

I wonder if Norfolk adds such stops as those.

[okinawatyphoon]

How close would you approximate the closest station to ODU would be?

[urbanfan]

How close would you approximate the closest station to ODU would be?

The closest station is the EVMS medical center station almost two miles away. The line will eventually be extended all the way to the intermodal connector at the naval station that is under construction already. This is where the mass transit (in theory) from the third crossing would connect into the light rail system. Eventually, VB will get on board now that they know that this isn't some day dream cooked up by norfolk. They would be crazy not to. The cost to extend this line to the beach would be minimal considering most of the line would be in dedicated right of way not running through streets or grade crossings. There will also be an intermodal station at the harbor park area where high speed rail and other light rail lines will eventually connect. I see a light rail line running from portsmouth to the airport to ocean view as a second line.

[hoobo]

After seeing the HRT renderings, I think I might just go ahead and change my tune. The Norfolk LRT doesn't remind me so much of the Baltimore or LA LRT systems as it reminds me of the aboveground Muni in San Francisco. I just hope that HRT changes its bus route to funnel residents between neighborhoods and LRT stations like what BART does.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

After seeing the HRT renderings, I think I might just go ahead and change my tune. The Norfolk LRT doesn't remind me so much of the Baltimore or LA LRT systems as it reminds me of the aboveground Muni in San Francisco. I just hope that HRT changes its bus route to funnel residents between neighborhoods and LRT stations like what BART does.

Good ideas everyone. I think that even though there is some local resistance to mass transit, improvements like these would really turn the tide in a way. To be able to ride from home to school to work then back, I think a lot of people would utilize that then revert to cars after-hours. I really hope to see this come to fruition.

[urbanvb]

I wasn't sure where to post this but I guess it could go here. Maybye one day it will be transportation..

ODU asks for more time for its maglev program

By DEBBIE MESSINA, The Virginian-Pilot

[willy]

He predicted another round of vehicle tests will occur in the spring.

After spring they will be asking for more money to continue testing. Face it, this project is a dieing horse and ODU should put it out of its misery.

[odumonarch]

I wasn't sure where to post this but I guess it could go here. Maybye one day it will be transportation..

ODU asks for more time for its maglev program

By DEBBIE MESSINA, The Virginian-Pilot

[NcSc74]

All I have to say is VDOT>NCDOT

[urbanvb]

BRT Update- I read today in the Beacon pull-out from the Va Pilot that Va Beach has decided against BRT and instead to spend $11 million to replace the aging trolleys at the Oceanfront.

Hopefully after Norfolk's LRT is in place VA Beach will decide it is time to get on board as well. Thankfully, VB is still negiotating to purchase the old rail line from Norfolk Southern.

[vdogg]

BRT Update- I read today in the Beacon pull-out from the Va Pilot that Va Beach has decided against BRT and instead to spend $11 million to replace the aging trolleys at the Oceanfront.

Hopefully after Norfolk's LRT is in place VA Beach will decide it is time to get on board as well. Thankfully, VB is still negiotating to purchase the old rail line from Norfolk Southern.

Good, kinda disappointed that they're throwing more money at those trolleys however.

[rusthebuss]

Good, kinda disappointed that they're throwing more money at those trolleys however.

Well maybe that approval for LR in Norfolk has them thinking. I really think that Vabeach never thought that Norfolk would be approved from the feds. Maybe they considering it now and want to look at what they can do. Oceana probably messed up the BRT.

[hoobo]

Your cell phone sends out a signal so that when someone calls you, your cell carrier knows to which tower to route the call. Imagine if traffic services could monitor these signals as anonymous sources to determine traffic flows. In today's New York Times, it was reported that in the next month or so, VDOT plans to test a cell-phone based traffic monitoring system along the "Norfolk beltway". Have fun with that.

[Telmnstr]

Regarding ODU's maglev project... the truth is the costs so far have been a joke. The amount of money spent is about equal to a culdesac of Virginia Beach poorly constructed rapidly flipped housing shacks. It's nothing compared to what has been invested by the Germans in their maglev system, which TOTALLY appears to rock. I want to go there, JUST TO TAKE A JOY RIDE on the thing. The transrapid does 250mph.

There are videos of the ODU Maglev train moving on a guideway in Flordia before it was transported here to Virginia.

My understanding (and it could be wrong, since the news articles aren't technical, they are written for the "real estate can only go up" never-heard-of-a-bubble drooling public) from friends is that the elevated guideway here in Norfolk flexes. When the train is on the guideway, the computer(s) adjust the electromagnet power levels to keep the train floating above the guideway. The problem is, the guideway bounces from the force and then the computer adjusts and then the guideway vibrates and it's oscillates in a loop.

If you look up American Maglev, hit their homepage, there are videos of it working on the ground.

Nuclear power + automated maglev systems = 24x7 quiet mass transit. Elevated means it doesn't interrupt road traffic.

Why everyone seems to have a problem with it, but don't mind cities spending 2.5 times as much on a performing arts theater so the grown up drama club can play, I dunno. If just a slight portion of the money pouring into the useless housing price runup went into funding new companies and new ideas, the world might be better. The Virginia Beach convention center which will be a money looser for the taxpayers but line the pockets of the hotel owners has already cost more than 10 times the investment in the maglev.

Don't get me wrong. I've seen the Simpsons, Marge versus the Monorail. I just firmly believe this style of mass transit has lots of potential value as the guideway deployment isn't that obtrusive and it would be very quiet when running.

THIS IS THE FUTURE FOLKS. I mean, come on!

Oh yea, regarding traffic. I've been playing around with making a better interface for the VDOT cameras. Feel free to comment on my work so far, you can see it at http://www.HRConnect.com under traffic. I'm also building a (Very rapidly growing) database of all past vdot images. Every 5 minutes, some 210MB a day.