Twenty years ago the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) described conceptually its future plans for High Speed Rail (HSR) service, federally supported, throughout the nation.

Virginia's current HSR plan, which does not directly connect Hampton Roads.

One major corridor was to be the Southeast High Speed Rail (SEHSR) Corridor, which is planned to run from Atlanta and Jacksonville to Washington, D.C. There it will connect with the Northeast Rail System already serving New York and Boston with existing High Speed Rail today.

Fifteen years ago there was no money, but Virginia and North Carolina agreed to work together on their part of the Federal-planned SEHSR Corridor. While Hampton Roads slept, the two states evaluated nine alternative routes between Washington and Charlotte.

Hampton Roads was not even on the map! Public hearings were held throughout North Carolina and central Virginia in 2001, but none in Hampton Roads.* In 2002, a final decision on this main line was approved by Virginia, North Carolina and the Federal Rail Administration. Almost as an afterthought, Virginia started a study for a spur to connect Hampton Roads with Richmond. That study is going to public hearings this month.

In the 1990s, Virginia left Hampton Roads off the map for north-south travel for High Speed Rail. In the 1960s we were left off the map for north-south travel on Interstate Highways. Does anyone see a pattern?

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When the Eisenhower Administration started planning the nation’s Interstate Highway System, back in the 1950s, it laid out several corridors to be designated eligible for federal funding. As the money started flowing there was competition for route designation. In central Virginia, the east-west corridor came down a choice of I-64 through Charlottesville and Lexington or I-64 through Lynchburg and Roanoke (the so-called “water level route”). The political fight was intense, but the Commonwealth chose the Charlottesville alternative because it also used the route of I-81 between Staunton and Lexington.

An aerial view of Interstate-95 under construction in 1960. Photo | Flordida State Archives

For the north-south Interstate route or routes, the heavily congested US Route #1 was strongly favored, running from Washington to Richmond to Petersburg to Emporia. But the Great Valley road from Winchester to Bristol was also approved at a lower priority.

In Hampton Roads, appeals were made for an Interstate route using the magnificent new Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT), connecting us to Philadelphia and New York. To attract the New York to Florida traffic a connection would be needed to I-95 in North Carolina, and intersections at Emporia, Roanoke Rapids (Weldon) or Rocky Mount were discussed. The proposed Interstate route coming from Atlanta through Charlotte also needed a connection to I-95. The solution to both connection problems would also connect Hampton Roads to Piedmont NC, including the Research Triangle, Greensboro and Charlotte.

Somehow this North Carolina connection to Hampton Roads never happened. Instead, the Virginia government decided to bend the I-85 route (at the NC border) up to a connection with I-95 at Petersburg. The Richmond-Petersburg area received Interstate service to the North, South, East, West, and Southwest; Hampton Roads was served only to the Northwest! Virginia Dept. of Highways concentrated most of its federal funds to expedite completion of I-95 between Washington and Petersburg, thereby relieving the U.S. Route #1 congestion before the CBBT could be opened and attract New York to Florida traffic. It is not surprising that the bridge tunnel bonds went into default when the projected toll revenue failed to meet expectations. It should be noted that part of the delay on CBBT happened when Southside Hampton Roads was squabbling with Northside Hampton Roads over whether the southern terminus of the project would be at Chesapeake Beach (in Virginia Beach) or Buckroe Beach (in Hampton).

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Will it ever be a reality for us? Photo | Streetsblog LA

Now, what have we learned from our regional failures in highway planning in the 1960s? Intra-regional fights have often left Hampton Roads to be without funding, while other competing regions applauded our failures to come together. Recently, the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) showed strong leadership in rising above provincialism and adopted a regional solution demanding our place at the table for HSR and our share of federal funding. That is crucial to our prospects for HSR. For a vital 30-year program affecting our region’s prosperity, such as Interstate Highways and/or HSR, we must clarify and hold on to our long-term vision. With unity and stamina, we can still add 1.7 million citizens to the nation’s High Speed Rail network, including Southside Hampton Roads where there has been no passenger rail service for decades.

Louis Guy is a retired civil engineer who served as Norfolk’s Utilities Director from 1993-1999. He is a Past President of the Virginia Society of Professional Engineers and he remembers Hampton Roads before the tunnels and the Interstates.

Tomorrow a Town Meeting on High Speed Rail, sponsored by the Future of Hampton Roads, will be held at The Granby Theater at 5:30 pm.

*The public hearing on High-Speed Rail will be held on January 28 at 5:30 at the Halfe Moone Cruise and Celebration Center next to Nauticus. For Hampton Roads to not be once again left out of the nation’s progress toward connectivity, we need to arm ourselves with knowledge, show up in droves, and make our opinions and desires known.