Virginia Beach Light Rail and Transit

[lammius]

Random thought:

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a ferry that went from the Lynnhaven Inlet near shore drive all the way to Town Center around Columbus Street?

Has anyone ever thought of this?

Cool? Yes.

Useful? No.

[urbanvb]

Red light cameras may return to beach

btw, I saw in today's paper that this measure passed.

[Former Resident of HR]

btw, I saw in today's paper that this measure passed.

I hope it does pass. The reasoning against it is so moronic. "What if you are not driving the car?" does not fly when you get a parking ticket so you shoudl know that if you let someone drive your car and they commit a crime, you'll have to turn them in or take the blame. "Big brother invading my privacy" is as stupid when you are invading others' rights to cross a PUBLICLY OWNED intersection when their light turns green. I mean you can't get money from an ATM or visit a lot of stores without being taped, so who cares? And finally that argument about an increase in rear-end collisions is the worst of all. People rear-end other people because they have faulty breaks or they are FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY. If we spent half the time paying attention to what we are doing while driving as we do looking for our phones/talking on phones/eating/spacing out, we would have a much less congested area and a much safer area.

[vdogg]

One more link to connect Volvo and Lynnhaven Parkway

You mean all this freaking construction going on around my area and they're still not going to finish this thing until 2013?

I thought they were getting close, I was looking so forward to that shortcut.

[vdogg]

Beach Residents weigh in on transportation needs

The city needs $528 million to fix 59 of the most congested roads in Virginia Beach.

On Tuesday night, residents offered some solutions: Make developers pay impact fees. Raise the gasoline tax. Invest more money in public transportation. Tighten the city budget.

[vdogg]

Red light cameras are back

[lil-bear]

I always thought it was stupid to remove the cameras!

Those people who complain about them invading their privacy, they need to find real issues!!!

[Padman]

I think the red light cameras will help to reduce accidents overall. I see no harm, however, in posting a sign stating that the cameras are active at the intersections where they are in use. That would take some of the "big brother is being sneaky and watching you" element out of the program, and may reduce accidents even further.

[vdogg]

Red light cameras won't be back anytime soon

Bringing back the city's hard-fought-for red-light cameras will take more than a flip of the switch. This week, the General Assembly gave cities and counties the go-ahead to use cameras to catch drivers going through red lights. Under the law, red-light cameras could be in place as early as July 1.

Virginia Beach had such cameras until 2005, but getting the system up and running again could take a while.

It's like watching a ping-pong match.

[erdogs]

I liked the red light cameras. I used to travel every day from Kempsville road to Indian River road to get to 64. On that left turn there was always about three or four cars running that light and I witnessed quite a few near collisions there. When the cameras were put in place all that stopped.

[urbanvb]

One place where I wish they would install a camera is the corner of Indy and Columbus. If you heading due east on Columbus (crossing over Indy) at rush hour, people will be caught in the intersection and you may miss your green light entirely. Sometimes people get angry and end up running a red light.

Edited February 27, 2007 by urbanvb

[vdogg]

One place where I wish they would install a camera is the corner of Indy and Columbus. If you heading due east on Columbus (crossing over Indy) at rush hour, people will be caughter in the intersection and you may miss your green light entirely. Sometimes people get angry and end up running a red light.

I have witinessed quite a few cases of road rage at this intersection myself. People get really upset when they miss their light.

[urbanvb]

Count me in!

Edited February 27, 2007 by urbanvb

[vdogg]

Beach to vote on joining transportation authority

[vdogg]

38 families must move for Witchduck widening.

It

[urbanvb]

Picking up from this posting I think extending LR to TC is a great idea. It would really unite DT Norfolk with Va Beach's fledgling downtown. Imagine taking the train from Norfok to TC or from TC to the mall downtown, etc. It seems the mayor is on board (excuse the pun) and I am excited about the possibility.

[Alpine757]

One more link to connect Volvo and Lynnhaven Parkway

You mean all this freaking construction going on around my area and they're still not going to finish this thing until 2013?

I thought they were getting close, I was looking so forward to that shortcut.

Ugh, I just read through this thread for this first time and now I'm saddened... I live in Magnolia Run Apartments, guess this shortcut isn't gonna help me out anytime sooon... guess it's driving in a circle to get anywhere for a few more years lol...

Picking up from this posting I think extending LR to TC is a great idea. It would really unite DT Norfolk with Va Beach's fledgling downtown. Imagine taking the train from Norfok to TC or from TC to the mall downtown, etc. It seems the mayor is on board (excuse the pun) and I am excited about the possibility.

That does sound like a really great thing indeed. For me it'd have no practicality due to where I live, but I could see it being a fun way to spend an afternoon nontheless.

Edited July 17, 2007 by Alpine757

[RJWGMU]

I agree with the voting for her because of LR. Most people I talk to hate her and I don't understand why. Frequently I hear "Meyra Obern-dork" lol. I do not agree! I think she has played a crucial part in TC and is doing just fine! Hopefully she will be re-elected at least one more time and make this happen, though I doubt it can be done during one term.

Oh, and it better not be street level! I would rather the city pay more and build it elevated over the tracks, though my dream would be to have it going down the median of VB Blvd then pull off to one side for the stations.

[urbanvb]

My understanding is that very busy crossings such as Indepence/Rosemont etc would be elevated. Imagine the backup from stopping traffic on Indy for a train to go by.

[Henry_Ryto]

I agree with the voting for her because of LR. Most people I talk to hate her and I don't understand why. Frequently I hear "Meyra Obern-dork" lol. I do not agree! I think she has played a crucial part in TC and is doing just fine! Hopefully she will be re-elected at least one more time and make this happen, though I doubt it can be done during one term.

Oh, and it better not be street level! I would rather the city pay more and build it elevated over the tracks, though my dream would be to have it going down the median of VB Blvd then pull off to one side for the stations.

I voted against Meyera in 2000 (Corillo) and 2004 (Dean). She is snarky with anyone who disagrees with her, elitist, a Democratic fundraiser, etc. That said, she's the lesser of evils in the 2008 field so far, with Will Sessoms and Don Weeks. While Weeks is anti-LRT, remember that Sessoms was one of two Council members (along with Barbara Henley) who endorsed a "Yes" vote on the 1999 referendum question. (Then, Sessoms is a dyed-in-wool facist, so I'd never vote for him.)

The previous poster is correct: the busier roads in Virginia Beach would be bridged over.

[Padman]

Regarding running LRT from TC to Downtown, connecting the two business centers is fine, but the more effective strategy is to connect trip origins to trip destinations. There will need to be some park and ride lots at the Virginia Beach LRT stations to capture commuters, shoppers, students, medical clients and so on.

[vdogg]

Tour takes beach leaders on trip to the future

The tour bus drove over the Norfolk-Southern railroad tracks just south of Town Center and slowed to a stop, half of the bus on each side.

To the west was Norfolk, with its planned light rail service. To the east was the Oceanfront, a prime tourist destination.

"Think out to 2027," said Karen Lasley, the city's zoning administrator. "What potential do you see?"

[PeninsulaKiddo]

From the article:

"You drive down Cleveland Street and look at what's there and look at what's here," Councilwoman Rosemary Wilson said, "and you wonder are we in the same city, much less a mile apart."

I think she cuts right to the chase and mentions something I have always thought about Virginia Beach -- the city as a whole is rather incongruous, even within specific districts or areas of the city (i.e. Oceanfront, the surrounding areas near TC, etc). Making such areas, and especially those areas, pedestrian-friendly and architecturally/functionally unified would be wonderful, and I hope they can achieve that...

[orulz]

Had a crazy thought about how to make Town Center more pedestrian friendly, if Pembroke Mall ever is up for redevelopment (which it probably will be, eventually.)

The problem? Massive Virginia Beach Boulevard cutting right through the center of the Town Center area.

The solution? Turn Virginia Beach Boulevard into a one-way pair, for about 1 mile on either side of its intersection with Independence.

Leave eastbound traffic on the current alignment, and change it into a 3- or 4- lane one-way street. Widen sidewalks, put in bike lanes, nice planting strips, and maybe even allow on-street parking. This would result in perhaps a ~100 foot right-of-way... so sell the extra 60 feet of right-of-way for redevelopment with right of first refusal to adjacent property owners.

For westbound traffic, use Broad Street. Extend Broad Street through the mall property, north of Princess Anne High, and reconnect it to Virginia Beach Boulevard somewhere around Thalia. Widen it from its current 60 foot right-of-way to the same 100 foot cross section as Virginia Beach Boulevard. The biggest problem here would be opposition from the Aragona Village neighborhood.

3-lane streets may be possible because 6 lanes of one-way pair can carry a great deal more traffic than 6 lanes on a single highway, but this would still work with 4-laners. Better yet, because traffic signal synchronization is possible in both directions, limitations on distance between stoplights become more or less irrelevant. So there could be streets crossing Va Beach Blvd every 300 feet if desired, rather than every 800 - 1500 as it is now.

Thoughts?

[RJWGMU]

Yes and no. In theory one way traffic is fine. However, take a trip to Old Town Fairfax. They recently converted BACK from one way traffic to two way traffic in their "DT" district. Why? It caused more problems than it resolved. It was confusing an had too many lights. So if executed properly, one way traffic would be good. Also keep in mind that routing cars around some building or piece of land is also normal. It is when you make them go two blocks out of their way that it becomes a problem, which is what you reccomend.