Return to Virginia Business - May 2004

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by Lynn Waltz
Virginia Business
May 2004

Robin Ray used to send her drivers out of the Atlantic Dominion Distributors warehouse in Norfolk as late as 8 a.m. to deliver cigarettes and candy to convenience stores. Now, the trucks need to roll by 5:30 a.m. or they won’t make it through their 18 or so stops by mid-afternoon. “We can’t afford to get stuck in afternoon traffic,” says Ray, the company’s president and CEO. “That’s when we really start losing money.”

Drivers for Ray’s other business, Hoffman Beverage, used to sell beer to retailers right off the truck. Now, she’s hired a separate sales staff to take orders. That gives drivers more time to cut through traffic and make deliveries. Of course, it’s also more expensive. “It’s the cost of doing business in Hampton Roads,” Ray says.

That cost seems certain to go higher in this sprawling region of 1.5 million people. The geography that makes Hampton Roads so appealing — its deep harbor and the James and Elizabeth rivers — makes getting around somewhat maddening, as overwhelmed bridges and tunnels slow traffic to a trickle. The Midtown and Downtown tunnels between Norfolk and Portsmouth can be excruciating. “The average speed is about what you can get out of your John Deere,” says Dwight L. Farmer, deputy executive director of transportation for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. “You can cut your grass faster than you can drive through those tunnels.”

What’s more, the region has no solid prospects to date for expanding its road network. A November 2002 referendum that would have raised $6 billion for key projects, such as a third crossing over the James or a new Midtown Tunnel between Norfolk and Portsmouth, was voted down by a 2-to-1 margin. The latest blow came in March, when General Assembly legislators cut virtually all funding for new transportation projects out of the state budget.

So while the region’s economy is growing today, some worry that traffic problems will cripple Hampton Roads in the long term. During the summer when beach-bound tourists on their way to Virginia Beach or North Carolina’s Outer Banks add to the traffic, some business people plan meetings and entire schedules around escaping the congestion, particularly at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. “We have a dire situation, and the consequences are generally not reversible,” says Farmer. “Historically, you can never dig deep enough in your pocket to reverse the damage. All you can do is hope to stem any further worsening of traffic congestion.”

For now, though, Farmer’s Cassandra-like warnings seem to go unheeded in a region made giddy by booming business. The Port of Hampton Roads is the fastest-growing on the East Coast, and the nation’s fastest-growing port for Asian imports, according to the Virginia Port Authority. The number of containers moving through the port rose 10 percent in 2002 and more than 14 percent last year, when 1.7 million containers passed through.

The region’s beauty, relatively low cost of living and its beaches continue to lure businesses. Anchored by the Norfolk Naval Base, the largest in the world, the area’s military presence totals more than 110,000 military and civilian employees. In 2002 Virginia Beach’s median household income of $53,540 was fourth-highest in the U.S. among cities with at least 250,000 residents.

Every week, it seems, there’s more good news. Maersk Sealand, the world’s largest shipping line, is going to build a $500 million cargo terminal in Portsmouth. In late March, Oakland, Calif.-based Cost Plus Inc., a home products retailer, announced plans to double the size of its 500,000-square-foot warehouse near Windsor. Anheuser-Busch plans a $200 million redesign of its Williamsburg brewery. In Virginia Beach, construction began last June on a new $202.5 million convention center.

Such growth, of course, creates more congestion. Traffic on Independence Boulevard next to the $350 million Town Center of Virginia Beach — a 12-block mixed-use commercial project — has risen from 33,699 vehicles daily in 1990 to 82,000 last year. Today Independence is among the 571 lane-miles of severely congested roadways in the region, up from 318 in 1995. By 2015 that figure is expected to reach 870 miles.

The only short-term option left is to control or reduce congestion. Light rail, a major player in many other urban areas, is still at least 10 years away. Hampton Roads is on its way to completing a sophisticated Congestion Management System (CMS), which includes the federally mandated Intelligent Transportation Systems Program. Northern Virginia has a similar program. Up to half the congestion in the region is caused by accidents, says Stephany Hanshaw, facility manager of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Traffic Center in Virginia Beach.

Rear-enders are particularly common: a study of 31,261 traffic accidents in 2002 showed that more than half were rear-enders. A third were during afternoon rush hour, and congestion was a major contributing factor. It would help if drivers would pay attention. “Accidents are the problem, not the lack of roads,” says William Bowman, a driver for Atlantic Dominion Distributors. “They need to teach people how to drive better.”

The state’s smart traffic center is the backbone of the CMS, which includes 1,163 miles of roadway. Eventually, each city will have its own smart traffic centers that will coordinate with the state. When the system is completed in 2005, there will be 113 miles of interstate covered by 288 cameras and 244 variable message signs. Officials can even change traffic signals to accommodate traffic flow. About two-thirds of the system, projected to cost $120 million, is already in place.

Since 1993, the program has reduced incident duration by 20 percent, shaving five to 10 minutes per accident. Each minute of obstruction, in turn, causes an additional four to five minutes of congestion, Hanshaw says. Congestion cost the region $345 million in 2000, up 97 percent from 1990, studies show. Last year, that figure grew to $396 million, or $261 per person.

There are other steps that could help as well. Farmer urges businesses to come up with ways for employees to reduce their time on the road, either through telecommuting, varying work hours or providing incentives for using public transit or carpooling. “It would require a major cultural change,” he says. “It won’t work if everyone believes they’re entitled to ride solo for every trip and still refuse to pay tax increases or tolls.”

Incentive programs similar to those in more congested Northern Virginia will begin in Hampton Roads in the near future, including a ($500,000) pilot program for telecommuting, says Chip Badger, director of public transportation for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. In Northern Virginia, companies can receive up to $35,000 to start a telecommuting program and up to $3,500 per employee. To help with carpooling, VDOT will send a representative to analyze company needs. VDOT’s TRAFFIX program, at 1-800-700-RIDE, uses a database to match up commuters.

The region has begun a study of the feasibility of charging tolls to pay for priority projects, such as a third crossing, which would relieve pressure on the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel by diverting traffic to the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel. State Transportation Secretary Whittington W. Clement and other road planners, though, think congestion and the frustration has to get worse before it can get better. And at the same time, VDOT needs to regain the public’s trust before it can ask for more money, he says. “You’ve got to have the political will to invest in infrastructure and part of that will comes from proving we’re good stewards of the taxpayer money,” says Clement.

Even if that happens, it’s no quick fix. While there’s discussion of public-private partnerships or using tolls or “congestion fees,” which charge commuters a sliding scale toll that peaks during periods of high congestion, no proposals are even on the table, state officials say. That puts tangible relief at least 15 to 25 years down the road, when dollars are worth less, and construction costs are higher.

What’s more, despite the region’s traffic woes, the problem is a lot worse in Northern Virginia. Commuters there make heavy use of public transit and HOV lanes, which can cut travel time in congested areas by up to 65 percent. “There’s not near the public acceptance of HOV in Hampton Roads, but there will be when congestion gets worse,” he says. Clement also cited studies ranking the most congested areas in the country. “Hampton Roads is not on that list,” he says. “Northern Virginia is.”

Farmer says business owners in Hampton Roads could solve all the traffic woes with a solution so simple, it defies implementation. “My favorite statistic,” says Farmer, “is if everyone would carpool one day of every 10 work days, all our existing congestion problems today would disappear. If everyone carpooled every week, one day out of five, congestion would be eliminated for 20 years.”
Regional leaders, meanwhile, worry about the traffic even amid excitement over new projects like the Maersk terminal. “This comes at a time when Hampton Roads is poised to explode,” says James L. Eason, president and CEO of Hampton Roads Partnership. “There’s a huge cost and serious consequences.” Art Collins, director of planning district commission, agrees. “If we can’t solve this problem, our prospects are not that bright… and it’s going to get a heck of a lot more expensive to do business in Hampton Roads.”

Return to Virginia Business - May 2004