Hampton Roads Transportation

[varider]

I feel that we deserve to be on the main line... but nobody cares about us. They can't even locate us right on the map on sehsr.org... Oh well, we will likely be bypassed just like the interstate highway system.. thing's never change, huh. We'll forever be a spur.

[VBIllini13]

Just stumbled upon this. Are you listening federal government? Or are you just going to sit on your rear-end and pretend like we don't exist!?

I'm with these guys

[calwinston]

The Virginia Port Authority has authorized the lease for APM Terminals at $865 million dollars in Portsmouth bringing all the ports in Hampton Roads are under one umbrella!

Opened in September 2007, APM’s Portsmouth facility cost roughly $500 million to build and is considered one of the most technologically advanced marine terminals in the Americas.

Valued at $865 million in today’s dollars, the base rent alone in the lease could end up costing the authority more than $1.1 billion, after adjustments for inflation, over the life of the deal.

http://hamptonroads....rminal?cid=rltd

Edited June 24, 2010 by calwinston

[calwinston]

"Rail chief hopeful for success of Norfolk-to-Richmond line"

http://hamptonroads....torichmond-line

The Commonwealth Transportation Board last week approved $93 million to upgrade tracks between Harbor Park in Norfolk and Staples Mill station near Richmond for the Amtrak service.

"We think it's money well- spent," Drake, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, said last week. "And we think we'll have Lynchburg-like success."

Ridership for the Amtrak service launched in October out of Lynchburg is double the projections, exceed ing its annual ridership goal in just six months, with 55,025 passengers. The annual goal is 51,000. The train follows the Interstate 81/U.S. 29 corridor through Charlottesville to Washington, then on to cities in the Northeast.

Drake said South Hampton Roads, which is rich in military operations with links to Washington, is underserved by rail. The closest train station is in Newport News.

State officials are working with Amtrak to develop ridership projections and operating schedules for the Norfolk trains.

The plan for South Hampton Roads is one daily round trip operating out of a transportation center to be built at Harbor Park, where there will be light rail, ferry and bus connections. Norfolk is applying for a federal stimulus grant for developing the transportation center.

Hopefully Hampton Roads gets the federal money for a transportation center! But recently i havent seen any plans for or renderings for the center! Would it be easier to get federal money if the project was already planned out?

Edited June 28, 2010 by calwinston

[varider]

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/07/expert-says-highspeed-rail-dc-would-run-1b-surplus

A railroad consultant predicts that high-speed trains between Hampton Roads and Washington would not only be popular, but also highly profitable - operating at surpluses of up to $1 billion a year.

[calwinston]

http://hamptonroads....-run-1b-surplus

A railroad consultant predicts that high-speed trains between Hampton Roads and Washington would not only be popular, but also highly profitable - operating at surpluses of up to $1 billion a year.

I highly doubt the $1 billion surplus a year, but I do believe it will operate at a profit!

"Like most people, I'd never heard of the Hampton Roads -Washington rail corridor - it has no profile outside of Virginia," said Metcalf, whose business is in Frederick, Md. He said his projections show it's as economically strong as the main rail corridors planned in Florida and Ohio, both of which won millions of dollars in federal stimulus money this year. He said it's one of the top 200-mile high-speed rail corridors in the country, with the potential for 4 million riders in 2025.

The corridor, with trains running to both South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula, could cost between $3 billion and $6 billion to develop and would generate an operating surplus of $500 million on the Peninsula and nearly $1 billion in South Hampton Roads in 2025.

Those numbers are based on trains running at 150 mph on the Southside and 110 mph on the Peninsula. The trip to Washington would take 2 hours from Norfolk and 2 hours, 22 minutes from Newport News, he said.

This is if we had true high speed rail like Europe and Japan!

[calwinston]

"State sweetens pot to get bidders for new U.S. 460"

Hoping to boost interest among road builders to construct and operate a new multibillion-dollar U.S. 460 as a toll road, the state highway department is throwing in cash and other incentives.

An original proposal had no public subsidy. Now, the state is willing to consider kicking in some money to make the project a reality but has not indicated a dollar amount.

As a purely private proposition, "it obviously went nowhere," said Jeffrey C. Southard, executive vice president of the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance, a trade association of businesses that build and operate roads. "If there is going to be a public investment, I think it will spark a lot of interest."

This will be a great asset to ecnomically lagging areas of Southeast Virginia and releive congestion on the tunnels in Hampton Roads! A win-win situation!

[ronsmytheiii]

"State sweetens pot to get bidders for new U.S. 460"

This will be a great asset to economically lagging areas of Southeast Virginia and relieve congestion on the tunnels in Hampton Roads! A win-win situation!

And open up new areas for more suburban sprawl.......

[rusthebuss]

I really don't see where this helps us out

[calwinston]

$60 million dollar taxpayer funded railway connecting the new APM Terminlas to Norfolk Southern and CSX railways is not being used

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/08/taxpayers-paid-build-railway-it-has-yet-see-train

[Titoroski]

This is simple. Everything about Hampton Roads (or should I say Norfolk, since the defense presence in Norfolk is the only real reason this place is going through what it's going through) is based on a conspiracy to keep the area relatively simple while also not easy accessible from the outside. Come'on people! Does anyone besides myself see the clear conspiracy here!? Really? Norfolk get's passed up by the interstate system and High Speed Rail, with over 1 and a half million people in the metro? No one on this forum thinks this is interesting?

The real question is how the gov of this state, and for that matter, country managed to convince us for so long that they just didn't know or just can't afford to take care of the Hampton Roads area!

Let's go people! The eyes! Let's open them por favor!!!

[mlsimons]

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/10/vdot-accepts-proposal-expand-hrbt

Hampton Roads Crossings' concept would widen the HRBT from two lanes to four in each direction and improve the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel and the James River Bridge for $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion.

The proposal would be funded by tolls - $4 to $6 on all three crossings. A source close to the project said the toll range is a worst-case scenario.

[VBIllini13]

I really hope this plan comes to fruition!

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/11/transit-plan-envisions-mix-ferries-rail-buses

[ronsmytheiii]

The tunnel LRT concept has the most synergy for reducing traffic, at the very least Peninsula traffic could park near the tunnel and take the train to the Norfolk Naval Base, both increasing transportation capacity while reducing car traffic in the other tunnels during rush hour.

[vdogg]

High speed rail heading for train wreck

High-speed rail may be headed for a wreck.

Incoming House Republicans may trim or cut funding for all the high-speed projects in the U.S.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., ranking GOP member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and in line to head it, said high-speed trains are a good idea, but he doesn't agree with the projects selected by the Transportation Department for funding, according to an Associated Press article.

Mica said in the article that he thought that the Northeast is probably the only region in the U.S. with a population density great enough to financially support a high-speed rail network.

Mica said the administration squandered the $8 billion allocated for high-speed rail projects.

He said the money has been given to dozens of projects that were marginal at best to spend on slow-speed trains to nowhere, the AP reported.

Ray Taylor of Future of Hampton Roads Inc., an advocate of passenger rail for Hampton Roads, said Mica's remarks introduce some realism into the national project and will reduce the hype and energy that has swept the nation.

"This, in turn, could reduce the new level of attention that has developed here in Hampton Roads on the subject of high-speed rail over the past months since the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization's historic resolution on the subject late last year," said Taylor, referring to the endorsement of a high-speed rail route along Route 460 from Norfolk with enhancements for passenger rail on the Peninsula along Interstate 64....

Can't say I didn't see this one coming...

[Norfolk4Life]

its not necessarily a bad thing for us. I think that the HR>DC corridor supports the traffic needed to make HSR feasible. We might actually get money since they wont be wasting in in places that wont use it. 

[urbanlife]

But I bet Mica can be talking into any new highway expansion as being needed anywhere in the country...cause lord knows this country needs more interstate.

[ronsmytheiii]

The first of two public meetings on the Hampton Roads Regional Transit Vision Plan will be held tonight in Newport News. The meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. with a presentation at 6:30 at City Center, Fountain Plaza II Conference Room, 700 Town Center Drive, according to the city.

The second meeting will be held Wednesday at Hampton Roads Transit, 1500 Monticello Ave. in Norfolk.

The agency is holding the meetings in partnership with the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation and the Williamsburg Area Transit Authority.

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/11/first-transit-plan-meeting-tonight-newport-news#comment-1029035

Commuter rail looks like LRT with a diesel engine instead of electric:

Street cars look like single car trains:

High speed ferry:

Bus rapid transit (hopefully not in Virginia Beach)

And of course Light Rail:

Edited November 30, 2010 by ronsmytheiii

[rusthebuss]

Toll fears from local leaders

Man those tolls look crazy. It really would kill this region

[VBIllini13]

Toll fears from local leaders

Man those tolls look crazy. It really would kill this region

I agree. Especially on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, nobody would go that way. You can't impose tolls this high on the only way of moving in and out of the region by land. There needs to be alternate (RAIL) ways of moving in and out of the region in place before tolls upward of $3 can be put in place.

[rusthebuss]

I agree. Especially on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, nobody would go that way. You can't impose tolls this high on the only way of moving in and out of the region by land. There needs to be alternate (RAIL) ways of moving in and out of the region in place before tolls upward of $3 can be put in place.

The problem is with this sorry state......they take alot from us and give very little back to us. They need to stop treating us a like a red headed step child and keep their hands out of our cookie jar without replacing some of them cookies!

[mlsimons]

I hate tolls as much as the next guys, but...

Does anyone else see this possible reality as a way of encouraging localism: more people living closer to where they actually work?

It seems like all these tolls will curb the 21st century tendency to sprawl and keep more residents living in higher densities.

On the flip side, these tolls will create an economic drain on our region, with millions each year going into private hands mostly like overseas. This is not sustainable.

Which will have the greater effect on our economy; the pro's of localism or the con's of a severe economic leak?

[ronsmytheiii]

Well high speed rail might be iffy with the incoming Republican majority in the House of Reps, but passenger rail chugs on:

Gov. Bob McDonnell is expected to announce today that Virginia has signed a deal with Norfolk Southern Railyway Company to upgrade tracks that run between Norfolk and Petersburg so they are suitable for passenger trains. Work on the improvements is scheduled to begin in 2011 and will be funded with an $87 million rail enhancement grant. In addition to track upgrades and related enhancements, the project also will include construction of a new track connection near Petersburg

Virginia is in negotiations with CSX to make appropriate improvements to its tracks for passenger rail and with Amtrak about train service.The new route would become part of Amtrak's regional Virginia service. Trains traveling those tracks would operate at speeds up to 79 mph. It's unclear what the fares for the ride would be.

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/12/state-ink-passenger-rail-deal-linking-norfolk-richmond?cid=ltst

[Norfolk4Life]

Well high speed rail might be iffy with the incoming Republican majority in the House of Reps, but passenger rail chugs on:

then we need to call our representatives and show them that investment in mass transportation is the only one the truly creates wealth for our state. highway construction will ALWAYS lead to the need for more highway construction and will drain the wealth of our region and state by forcing the expenditure of money on oil-related (oil, gasoline, asphalt, etc.) products: all of which leave the state. mass transit money stays in our region and allows users to keep more of their money.

[zeppelin14]

Looks like this one project between the downtown and midtown tunnels is a go:

http://www.wvec.com/news/local/Contract-for-Downtown-TunnelMidtown-TunnelMLK-Extension-Project-Moving-Forward-125901753.html