The Lack of Money to Build Roads in Hampton Roads

Build whatever you want to build in Hampton Roads; build 35 story high-rises, large apartment complexes whereby you can loose yourself in their campus, even bring light-rail to the region. The bottom line is that this region is still dependent upon its roads. First I hear that we aren't going to get the money from Richmond, well that much I've known, if anything, Richmond is more interested in the corridor between it and Northern Virginia; this is where the money is at, and it is a matter of time before Richmond is fully absorbed into Northern Virginia. Then I hear that 460 should be made into a full blown interstate, well duh, but no one wants to do that because that has nothing to do with getting around Hampton Roads.

So now I'm left with the same old map of the same six projects you guys have talked about since before I moved to Southeastern Virginia; widening I-64 both on the Peninsula and the Southside, the Third Crossing, the Southeastern Parkway, extending the Midtown tunnel, and of course, making 460 into an Interstate Highway. How many billions of dollars is required to build this infrastructure, and why isn't any money being put towards getting the light-rail out of Norfolk into the other cities, and to build more than one line? To be totally honest Norfolk and Virginia Beach need an intricate series of tunnels to get drivers around, and no one really wants that because of the exorbitant cost of building extra infrastructure just to prevent the roads on the surface from caving into those tunnels.

The reason that I say this is because there is no room to build any more roads without moving someone out of the way. The look and feel of this area, which is overwhelmingly predominated by an endless sea of single story detached homes, and ugly two to three story apartment complexes, would not gel with elevated roads, but given the traffic congestion, that is what this area is looking at. People think that the trains are just a money making scheme, but they actually fit quite well into the natural evolution of the metropolitan area. Something needs to be elevated, and trains are a natural solution. Right now they sit conveniently out of the way but I think it is a matter of time before the train runs right across the highway, just one more bridge for someone to look at.

Don't get me wrong; I love Hampton Roads. But I am sick of hearing about transportation issues when cities are doing everything they can to encourage the construction of even higher density infrastructure than what we already have, and little to address the transportation issue. We are between a rock and a hard place; you can't tax individuals on revenue that does not exist, and Richmond is not interested in our transportation woes, because they want to get up to Northern Virginia faster ...