The Tide Light Rail - Norfolk, VA

I had a pretty good experience on the Tide. I discovered it was 2 blocks away from a hotel I was staying at on a business trip to Virginia Beach and was overjoyed at the thought of NOT having to eat dinner at the Denny's nearby.

Another poll (conducted October 2nd to 8th) is out on how people might vote in the ballot question for extending the Tide:
YES: 63% (in favor of the City moving forward)
NO: 29%
Undecided: 8%

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/10/poll-sa ... light-rail

Sounds like the city of Norfolk has approved a study of extending the Tide to the Naval Station. I would think the base would generate HUGE ridership. I would also suspect any routing to the base would include a stop at Old Dominion as well.

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news ... n-approved

Bob Roberts wrote:Sounds like the city of Norfolk has approved a study of extending the Tide to the Naval Station. I would think the base would generate HUGE ridership. I would also suspect any routing to the base would include a stop at Old Dominion as well.
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news ... n-approved

Hmm, the agenda item read as follows:

A Resolution requesting Hampton Roads Transit to initiate studies to extend Light Rail Transit to Naval Station Norfolk and Virginia Beach

If approved, this agenda item is a resolution requesting that Hampton Roads Transit initiate studies of potential options for extending The Tide – Light Rail Transit to Naval Station Norfolk and to continue to advance current analysis of an extension into the City of Virginia Beach. Approval is recommended.

http://www.norfolk.gov/city_hall/meetin ... docket.htm

Bob Roberts wrote:I would also suspect any routing to the base would include a stop at Old Dominion as well.

This is taken from p. 14 of the Hampton Roads Regional Transit Vision Plan (Final Report) from Feb 2011. (full list of resources here: http://www.drpt.virginia.gov/activities/hrrtvp.aspx)

Can you tell from the squiggle (with a Letter "I" label) on this picture? (Existing Tide is "L" and VA Beach Tide is "M")

This is my best guess based off that PDF:

The EGE wrote:This is my best guess based off that PDF:

Nice work, but I think the PDF has misled you--I think the PDF wrongly depicts the extension starting at Harbor Park, when many plans (in text) say the extension starts at the EVMS/Medical Center. Really, I think the PDF is depicting a new *service* and giving the impression that there's a new *right-of-way*.

So I believe the "backwards "r" arc at the bottom of the "new line" is actually the arc from "up" Monticello and "over" Brambleton.

That, in turn, implies the extension starts at EVMS and getting to Colley so it can go North--Either a split before just before today's EVMS terminus, or a turn through EVMS just beyond today's terminus. But however you get to Colley, I think it goes:
- North on Colley until 38th St
- East on 38th until Hampton Blvd
- North on Hampton Blvd through ODU
- Slight wiggles to follow Hampton Blvd before crossing the water (I think most of the zig-zags are just following Hampton Blvd)
- Terminus near the east-west rail ROW at Hampton Blvd and Terminal Blvd
- (anticipating a "T" with another light rail line running along the existing rail ROW that could cross by tunnel to Newport News, shown in the "Beyond 2035" section of the pdf plan)

Amongst the purposes of all these studies will be to determine station locations based upon ridership, which in turn determines where the rails will be laid. They'll even look at which streets will need grade separations and how they'll have to cross over or under other rail lines to the port. The biggest item will be where to place the station on the navy base to maintain high security, and how the riders will get to their ships.

The Tide will not know exactly which route they will take until after completing all the studies. Golly, it might not even follow the abandoned railroad corridor all the way into Virginia Beach because its study has just started and there are developers recommending three different routes so the trains will be closer to them.

Looks like Virgina Beach wants light rail (or at least more study of LRT extension). The non-binding referrendum in support of LRT passes 62-38.

http://hamptonroads.com/2012/11/light-r ... inia-beach

Bob Roberts wrote:Looks like Virgina Beach wants light rail (or at least more study of LRT extension). The non-binding referrendum in support of LRT passes 62-38.

This updates the public sentiment record specifically for "the Tide" light rail in Virginia Beach. It does not pay for it. That must still be worked out by the VB city council and Hampton Roads Transit, and other stakeholders willing to help fund it.
Hopefully they'll learn a little about storm damage to rail systems from Sandy, and build a more sturdy line to the beach front. I realize its impossible to beat mother nature every time, but there are measures that can be done to reduce that risk.

The now-approved referendum asked:

Should the City Council adopt an ordinance approving the use of all reasonable efforts to support the financing and development of The Tide light rail into Virginia Beach?

IIRC, the City Council was mostly looking for political cover via the referendum--that is, a majority of them were in favor of LRT in some form and were ready to explore taxes or bonding to advance The Tide (and in fact have already spent tens of millions already acquiring the ROW and key parcels beside it). They even agreed to insert the words "financing and" (in front of "development") to make it clear that they were asking to raise taxes and spend money.

An ordinance, "authorizing use of reasonable efforts" to support the development of light rail to Virginia Beach, was approved 10-0 by city council. So, now the council has voted, this project continues to move forward.
The EUS process, especially if your looking for matching funds from the Feds, takes over 5 years to finish, and I expect it'll take 2 to 3 years to build once all the funding has been found. That's going to be the hardest task, finding the funds.

New taxes in the Hampton Roads area in the Gov's plan + these new possible alignments:

http://media2.wavy.com/html/Hilltop%20- ... -19-13.pdf

Article Here: http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news ... te-options

Recent developments on the Virginia Beach side of things include a proposal to use PPP to speed planning, construction and launch:

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news ... light-rail

http://www.wvec.com/news/Proposal-offer ... 89591.html

http://wtkr.com/2013/04/17/city-council ... -the-tide/

More on VB's consideration of a privately funded extension: http://hamptonroads.com/2013/06/virgini ... light-rail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Former HRT president] Shucet's [private] team said it could design and build for $235 million a 5.2-mile extension of the Tide light-rail system in Norfolk to Virginia Beach's Rosemont Road, with stops at Witchduck Road, Town Center and Rosemont Road by the end of 2016.