It will move Virginia Beach closer to becoming a core city, and with the problems associated with a core city. “.the Virginia Beach Extension won’t move many people, won’t eliminate traffic jams, and it won’t create much economic growth. Last year, Atkinson galvanized resistance by taking out a half-page newspaper advertisement that criticized The Tide’s performance in Norfolk and stated: The opposition is led by John Atkinson, the city’s treasurer, who argues that the prior 2011 referendum was not clear enough in its wording. The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed criticizing the “Tide-tanic” just two weeks before Election Day. In 2014, the starter line was the second-most subsidized system per ride in the country according to the FTA National Transit Database. According to the Virginian-Pilot, the local newspaper, a majority of the city council plans to vote in accordance with the outcome.īut The Tide’s performance in Norfolk is casting significant doubt. While the referendum is non-binding, the city council will use it to ensure that public opinion still favors the project. The remaining $155 million will be paid by the state, which has set aside $155 million for the project. This amounts to a $45 increase for a $250,000 home, covering construction and the cost of operation, which is about two million annually. The city’s portion is funded in part by a 1.8-cent real estate tax increase passed in May 2015 by its city council. Project Cost Estimate Based on Preliminary Engineering (2017 Dollars) CATEGORY The city is estimated to spend $59.3 million without contingencies or $88.1 million with contingencies. The $243.1 million Virginia Beach line would be financed through a combination of local, state, and federal funds. On Tuesday, residents will take the (ostensibly) final step of voting on a referendum asking whether local funds should be used to extend The Tide into Virginia Beach, establishing a 10.9-mile rail network between the two cities. The referendum passed with 63% in favor of the city council using “all reasonable efforts. In 2011, shortly after Norfolk opened The Tide, Virginia Beach voted developing the newly acquired land to extend the starter rail line through its city limits. Suddenly, the project became much more tangible. The purchase was funded by a $20 million state grant, $10 million from the city, $5 million from Hampton Roads Transit Authority, and $5 million through a Dominion Virginia Power Plan easement that will be worth $100,000 annually in rent. Ten years later, 56% of residents voted against yet another iteration in a 1999 referendum.Īnother decade after voters rejected the referendum, the city council took a different tack by purchasing a 10.6-mile rail corridor owned by Norfolk Southern. In 1989, the Virginia Beach City Council voted 6-5 against a proposed light rail project. It stretches back across three decades of Virginia’s largest city oscillating between lukewarm enthusiasm and outright rejection of light rail proposals – a long string of advances and setbacks attributed to fluctuating public opinion, divisions among local leaders, and one critical, incremental step that finally led the way forward. The story is emblematic of the constant push-pull of politics and policy in shaping local transportation projects. Next week Virginia Beach will vote on a $243.1 million project to build 3.5 miles of light rail that connects with neighboring Norfolk’s starter line, The Tide.