[PRCo] Re: Fwd: The Virginia-Pilot (Wednesday, July 6, 2011): Tide will guide Norfolk's growth

[Richard Allman]

rather open-minded, clear-eyed view of it, I'd say-thanks, Fred! Missing is 
the hypberbole that characterizes so(too...) much of our public discourse!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
To: <Pittsburgh-Railways at Dementia.Org>; "peter folger" 
<transitman at maine.rr.com>; "Daniel Joseph" <holymooses at sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 3:30 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Fwd: The Virginia-Pilot (Wednesday, July 6, 2011): Tide will 
guide Norfolk's growth


>
>
> Subject: The Virginia-Pilot (Wednesday, July 6, 2011): Tide will guide 
> Norfolk's growth
>
>
>
> Tide will guide Norfolk's growth
>
> The Virginian-Pilot
> © July 6, 2011
>
> The trains have begun rolling through downtown Norfolk. The Tide, finally, 
> is coming in.
> If all goes according to plan, light rail will begin transporting people 
> next month on a route from Newtown Road to Norfolk's medical complex. For 
> now, conductors are working the kinks out, practicing maneuvering a very 
> big train down roads that seem too small to accommodate them.
>
> Perhaps most importantly, Hampton Roads Transit is familiarizing the rest 
> of us with the sight of those trains traversing downtown. It's teaching us 
> new traffic patterns and how to accommodate a large landmark moving 
> through the landscape.
>
> It wasn't easy to get here.
>
> The Tide is $100 million more expensive than planned, perhaps with fraud 
> to thank. People may well end up in jail for their part in it. Many others 
> lost their jobs.
> Despite all that, Norfolk will be the smallest city in America with its 
> own light rail system. It is a technical honor built of Hampton Roads' 
> strange governmental divisions and will hold only until the system extends 
> to other cities.
>
> That is years away. In the meantime, Hampton Roads Transit has a train to 
> run.
>
> The rollout is unlikely to go smoothly or perfectly. If people, cars, 
> trains and bicycles can all avoid running into each other, it will be a 
> triumph. A train in a crowded downtown almost guarantees mishap, if not 
> worse.
>
> And there is more work to do before The Tide carries its first passengers 
> on Aug. 19: Traffic signals need to be adjusted; parking lots need to be 
> finished at Newtown Road, Military Highway and Ballentine Blvd.; 
> operations need to be tweaked to get travel time under 25 minutes for the 
> 7.4-mile route.
>
> Those changes are the least of the ones we'll see if The Tide does what 
> it's supposed to do: Change the city's (and the region's) development 
> patterns. That is the transformation that will ensure light rail's success 
> and Norfolk's future. But it will take decades.
>
> Even so, there's no denying the immediate accomplishment The Tide 
> represents: A $300 million transportation alternative at a time when there 
> hasn't been a significant project built in a decade.
>
> Despite grease on the tracks to prevent squeaky wheels, the next month 
> will feature almost constant grumbles to accompany the trains through 
> Norfolk: Light rail is too expensive, too massive, too convenient, too 
> socialist, too contagious. The no-no-no crew will exploit every mishap and 
> misstep as proof that light rail is a horrible mistake.
>
> Few things in life, of course, are ever so dramatic. And The Tide isn't 
> one of them. Light rail isn't going to be a savior, but neither is it 
> going to be Norfolk's ruin. It will be one more way to help people move 
> around. One more way to help guide the city's growth for the future. One 
> more way for the city to help plan its destiny.
>
> That, alone, is reason enough to cheer the train's arrival.
>
>
>