Passenger Trains > "Virginia Beach [LRT] Transit Extension Study"

Virginia Beach Transit Extension Study
(THIS JUST IN from the HAMPTON ROADS [VA] TRANSIT website):

Video here:
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/mobile/local_wavy_virginiabeach_oceanfrontrapidtransit_20091307

Virginia Beach rapid transit study
Updated: Tuesday, 14 Jul 2009, 6:41 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 14 Jul 2009, 6:18 PM EDT

Eric Harryman

Virginia Beach, VA - Hampton Roads Transit officials kicked off a public involvement program in Virginia Beach Tuesday.

Transit officials want to know if residents want to bring rapid transit to the heart of the Oceanfront, and if they do, what they’re willing to give up to get it.

WAVY.com com spoke with James Toscano, a spokesman for Hampton Roads Transit. Toscano told us that Norfolk’s light rail quest might just be the sparkplug to bring something similar to the Oceanfront.

“It took many, many years for us to go from alternative analysis in Norfolk to where we are today. We are currently involved in the Virginia Beach Transit Extension Study,” said Toscano.

The extension study is an effort to get the public informed and hopefully on-board in bringing a rapid transit system to the resort city.

That plan is the first step in what Toscano described as a very lengthy and complex federal process.

“The purpose of the process is to win federal approval and the appointment of federal dollars to actually construct the system,” said Toscano.

If the plans get a thumbs up, it would connect a narrow corridor between Newtown Road and the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.

“There is a point at which the community itself needs to decide whether or not to move forward to future phases,” Toscano told WAVY.com

But getting to that point means making sure home, business and property owners know exactly what the impact of construction and operation will mean.

If you’d like to weigh-in, you’ll have more than one chance to do it.

The first is scheduled for September 9, from 6-8 p.m., at Princess Anne High School on Virginia Beach Boulevard.

The second one will take place September 10, from 6-8 p.m. at the Virginia Beach Convention Center on 19th Street.

("This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 10:56 am EDT.")