(The following story by Jason Skog appeared on the The Virginian-Pilot website on January 21.)
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — As the city continues negotiating to buy 11.7 miles of old rail line from Norfolk Southern Corp., the City Council turned its attention Tuesday to possible uses for that land.
While a light-rail system still remains a remote possibility, the council expressed strong interest in a new breed of mass transportation: Bus Rapid Transit or BRT.
The system uses restricted lanes, such as a paved railroad corridor, and sleek, specialized buses with multiple doors that riders board from platforms. It is much less expensive than light rail.
Hampton Roads Transit officials have spent four months studying a small BRT system for the Oceanfront. The network would connect the resort’s northern and southern reaches to an east-west line that would serve the city?s new $202.5 million convention center.
The cost is estimated at $40 million to $50 million. Perhaps 80 percent of the money might come from a federal program that targets small mass transit start-up projects, said Ray Amaruso of URS Inc., a transportation consultant working with HRT.
Vice Mayor Louis R. Jones said he was interested in linking the convention center to Town Center in Pembroke.
“To me, that is the biggest opportunity as far as Virginia Beach is concerned,” Jones said. “And using the railroad right-of-way to do that is one of the greatest potentials we have.”
At its annual goal-setting retreat in August, the council made it a top priority to own the stretch of Norfolk Southern line from Newtown Road to Lake Holly just west of the resort strip.
Negotiations with the railroad have been held behind closed doors and price has not been discussed publicly. Railroad officials have said only that they want to sell the land to a buyer or a group of buyers in a single transaction.
HRT officials are leading the negotiations on behalf of Virginia Beach and Norfolk, which also wants to buy the railroad right-of-way within its borders. An initial offer could be made in the next month or two, and the final sale could come before year?s end.
The mere mention of light rail represents a policy shift for the City Council. In 1999, Beach voters defeated a light-rail proposal in a referendum, with 56 percent opposed. The City Council then passed a resolution withdrawing funding for the proposal and forbidding regional officials from studying the idea.
That resolution gave federal officials the impression that Virginia Beach doesn’t want to pursue any new mass transit initiatives. On Tuesday, council members said they want to be clear that they are interested in studying BRT.
Several council members expressed support for developing some sort of link between the Oceanfront and Town Center, and possibly beyond.
“Town Center wasn’t a reality six years ago and downtown Norfolk wasn’t the way it is today,” said Councilman Richard A. Maddox, chairman of HRT?s board. “Whether it’s light rail or BRT, I think we ought to be able to study what our options are on the right-of-way we are currently negotiating to buy.”