Our transportation future
Public input needed as area officials develop regional vision for getting around
If there’s a defining characteristic of Hampton Roads, aside from the ocean, bay and various waterways, it’s the network of roads, tunnels and bridges residents and visitors rely on to move between our constituent cities and counties.
Developing a robust transportation plan and preparing for the region’s future needs falls to the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization, which is working on the long-term vision for how people will get around Hampton Roads in 2050.
Officials with that organization want help from the public in developing that vision and residents should be eager to answer the call.
Generating a blueprint for transportation that looks decades into the future is no easy task. The HRTPO conducts this work every five years, projecting how our region will change in the coming years and extrapolating needs based on public input from key stakeholders from elected officials to private citizens.
The most recent plan, adopted in 2021, looked to 2045 and projected the need for $17 billion to maintain existing infrastructure and $15 billion to build out new systems in a variety of areas. While most residents may be focused on the road network or expanding our bridge and tunnel capacity, the 2045 long-term plan also includes walking and bike trails, expanded mass transit options and rapid bus service on the Peninsula.
The goal here isn’t just to develop a plan that is car-centric, even though that takes priority as the most relied upon mode of transit here, but to forge a multimodal system that meets the needs and aspirations of our large and diverse community. HRTPO takes into account areas of population growth and thinks strategically about how to integrate those places into the larger regional transportation network — and how to reach those who would benefit from more mass transit options.
It’s arguably a more challenging endeavor here than in other regions. A majority of residents live and work in different cities or counties, making rush-hour commutes more crowded,
and there’s always the water to consider, which makes large projects such as the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion more complicated.
Additionally, each Hampton Roads community has its own needs and features to incorporate into a larger plan. A rapid bus transit system is in the works on the Peninsula, for instance, and Norfolk has light rail but it doesn’t connect to other cities.
Organizing all of these priorities depends on soliciting public input, and the HRTPO launched an online survey this month to collect viewpoints from across Hampton Roads. It intends to identify “Drivers of Change” which are “broad categories of forces that can determine our region’s future 25+ years from now.”
Dive into the survey at metroquestsurvey.com/32ez?c=F and find questions about the forces likely to affect your travel, what areas of a transit plan deserve the most attention, and how the public uses the existing transportation network.
Responses will be collected through Aug. 15, so don’t hesitate to weigh in while that option is available. There will be other opportunities to provide input as the process proceeds, but this community survey will provide valuable data that will shape how that unfolds.
Developing a long-term plan that clearly identifies areas of need and places where Hampton Roads falls short will in turn help the HRTPO work with regional and state leaders to prioritize projects and chart a prudent course for how to achieve objectives.
Since the landmark agreement in 2013 that saw Virginia radically change its approach to funding transportation priorities, this region has been fortunate to see work begin on several long-awaited and much-needed projects. The Interstate 64 expansion is one example and the HRBT expansion is another. We should not lose that momentum.
Participate in the planning process by completing the survey and help the HRTPO build a transportation network that exceeds our expectations and makes Hampton Roads a better place to live, work and visit.