Senator John Miller had an op-ed piece in today’s Daily Press on the issue of transportation. In it, he offers some solid suggestions for dealing with Hampton Roads.
A container tunnel could be constructed under the Elizabeth River between Norfolk International Terminals and Craney Island. It would cost a quarter of the $4 billion needed for the third crossing.
The cost of the third crossing has definitely been an issue in the debate. Sen. Miller also tackles another bone of contention between the Southside and Peninsula members of the General Assembly: the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.
We will not solve our transportation problems without addressing the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. The Metropolitan Planning Organization must revisit its list of projects and give top priority to those that relieve congestion, help facilitate an evacuation in the wake of a natural disaster, or efficiently move the military in and out of the area. By any of those measures, the HRBT must be on the list.
He offers other ideas, including tolling of the interstates. Head on over and read the whole thing. Some good ideas there 😉
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Any politician who puts tolls back on our roads is going to be politically dead. They will try to sell them by claiming that the new “fast tag” technology makes this an easy option, but it is just an easy way to pick our pockets that also punishes the poorest citizens who don’t get those corporate sponsored fast tags as a perk.
John Miller was elected by a bipartisan coalition of voters who bought into the hope that he was going to work across the aisle to provide real solutions. I hope tolls aren’t what he has in mind, or he will be a one term Senator.
How has Senator Miller done so far on the bipartisanship meter? Has anyone looked at his votes and compared them to others who vote the straight Party line?
As for the transportation issue: I suggest the use of barges between the Port of Hampton Roads and Richmond and other river accessible ports. Some of these barges can carry 300 containers per barge. Just one barge trip could eliminate three hundred trucks off of I-64. Other river sites could also be established all along the Chesapeake Bay tributaries. Give me nine feet of navigable water and I can have a busy inland barge operation, all along the ports of the Chesapeake Bay. With the cost of fuel today, barges provide a great alternative.
As for another crossing, I would like to see a similar span to the Coronado Bridge in San Diego. It is high enough to allow carriers to pass under and it creates a beautiful architectural accent to the cities that it serves. I would like to see the cost comparisons between a high rise bridge and a tunnel.
If there are federal subsidies available, I would like to see a high speed foot traffic ferry between Hampton, or Newport News and the naval base.
I support the five cents per gallon gas tax increase to pay for transportation improvements. The impact, as I have stated before, is $15.00 annually for the average driver in Virginia. Adding the tax now would have little impact since we are already numb from the steady increases, and you may as well get the tax fully implemented before Bush’s war pushes the cost up past $5.00 per gallon.
The good news is that on 01/20/2009, no more shrubbery.