We're ticketed for a dead end in the high-speed rail sweepstakes

WE DESERVE THE MAIN LINE

by Louis Guy, a retired civil engineer and President of the Norfolk Historical Society. Originally printed in The Virginian-Pilot. Contact him at LouisGuy@cox.net

High Speed Rail is the wave of the transportation future, and President Obama is pushing it forward. California is prepared to grab the opportunity with federal assistance. Where is Virginia? More important to Hampton Roads, are we once again bickering among ourselves and missing the boat?

It seems Hampton Roads is destined to be a cul-de-sac … again. That’s what happened to us with the Interstate Highway System in the 60s. Originally, Interstate 85 from Atlanta was aimed our way, but when it crossed into Virginia it was bent up to Petersburg, redirecting north-south traffic through Richmond.

Hampton Roads was left as a dead end on I-64.

Now the state has done it again, planning to run the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor (SEHSR) from Washington through Richmond and Petersburg direct to Raleigh, leaving Hampton Roads to twist slowly at the end of one limb or another.

A much better route would be from Petersburg to Suffolk to Raleigh, along existing rail lines. This could put Hampton Roads on the main line, where it would serve Virginia’s urban centers in the same way as does the proposed SEHSR main line in North Carolina: The plan is to bend its part of the main line down to Raleigh, up to Durham, across to Greensboro, and then down to Charlotte. In the past 50 years the Charlotte region has leapfrogged us economically. The Queen City’s position on the Interstate Highway main line is one of the reasons.

Hampton Roads must not be shunted aside by Virginia again.

By accepting the SEHSR plan approved in Richmond, we have been pushed into an inter-regional fight about which spur route we prefer to the dead end. Wake up. By wasting our energies arguing over which spur -- south (Norfolk Southern) or north (CSX) of the James River -- we are missing the point: Hampton Roads will still be a dead end.

Suffolk is part of the metro area. Light Rail is coming to the southside and can be expanded easily. The next crossing of the harbor can be designed to connect light rail with the Peninsula. We could connect all of Hampton Roads with light rail to to a high speed rail station in Suffolk.

The region needs new leaders who can think outside the old box. Isn’t the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) responsible for regional transportation planning in Hampton Roads? We have a world-class port and pre-eminent military facilities. Why settle for a second-class rail spur to the main line at Richmond? Virginia’s largest metropolitan area and its economic development potential deserve better.

The state's neglect of our region is a long-standing tradition. Almost 200 years ago, when railroads began to replace canals, Richmond and Petersburg successfully stymied connections to Hampton Roads, monopolizing their control of all trade from western Virginia. The first railroad to reach Hampton Roads connected Portsmouth to Weldon, NC, expanding trade routes with piedmont North Carolina and the Roanoke River valley. The Norfolk newspaper wrote editorials proposing that the region secede from Virginia and join North Carolina.

The right-of-way through Weldon could work again. If we will only surmount our differences within this region, we can have the clout to influence the outcome.

It’s time for the MPO to change its spots and break the pattern. The first priority must be to connect Hampton Roads connected to high-speed rail. The future depends on it.

For more on High Speed Rail: http://hrpartnership.blogspot.com/2009/04/high-speed-rail-in-hampton-roads-or-are.html

Click here for the website of the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor. Shown on the homepage is a map of the approved South East High Speed Rail corridor in VA and NC. It shows how NC is zigzagging to accommodate its metro areas, but VA has given Hampton Roads only a planned dead end spur.