Chesapeake, Va.
In 1999, city officials in Chesapeake, Va., waged war on Battlefield Boulevard, the appropriately named two-lane thoroughfare that served as the primary tourist route to North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Now a 16-mile expressway eases summertime traffic congestion in southeastern Virginia.
Battlefield Boulevard originally was designed to accommodate 8,000 vehicles per day, but, during the tourist season, it was packed with as many as 30,000 vehicles per day on weekends. The traffic backups sometimes extended 10 miles.
The Chesapeake Expressway was conceived in 1968 as a means to alleviate the traffic congestion. However, the project had to wait until the city went through the arduous process of requesting federal funding, and an environmental impact study was conducted. As the city waited, the traffic worsened.
City officials knew they had to move ahead with the expressway plans. Rather than looking to local contractors to work with the city manager, they decided to build the expressway under the Virginia Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995, which allowed the city to select a developer to design, build and operate the project. However, fearing they would be barred from bidding on the state’s largest road construction contract, local contractors threatened to sue, prompting officials to look for a new plan.
During that time, the city received $9 million in federal transportation funds toward the project. As a result, it decided to follow more traditional methods of road construction, and it asked for public bids. It also decided to sell $22 million in toll revenue bonds to partially finance the project.
Funding came from several other sources as well. For example, the city received a $39 million loan from the Virginia Toll Facilities Revolving Account and $46 million from the city’s Urban Allocation Funds. With a budget of approximately $116 million, the project broke ground on July 12, 1999.
The large amount of material used in the expressway was a concern to the city and to the residents. Nearly 280,000 truckloads of fill material, stone, asphalt and concrete had to be transported to the site. To increase the efficiency of producing asphalt, a temporary asphalt plant was built on site and dismantled upon completion of the project.
To minimize the impact on residents and travelers, the city adjusted construction schedules to avoid heavy traffic periods. The Public Works Department also distributed quarterly newsletters on the status of the project to households and businesses near the construction corridor.
The expressway was originally scheduled to open by summer 2001, but it was completed several weeks ahead of time on May 23. During Memorial Day weekend, the first weekend after the opening, 30,538 vehicles experienced easy riding on the expressway.
Agencies/companies involved: Suburban Grading and Utilities, Norfolk, Va.; The Driggs Corp., Capitol Heights, Md.; TransCore, San Diego; Mid Eastern Builders, Chesapeake, Va.; Henry S. Branscome, Norfolk, Va.; Parsons Brinckerhoff, Quade + Douglas, Norfolk, Va.; Federal Highway Administration; Virginia Department of Transportation.