City leaders in Virginia Beach discuss plans for The TIDE light rail

WTKR.com

Tonight city leaders in Virginia Beach are starting to look at how possibly bringing the TIDE into the resort city could impact neighborhoods there.

The light rail known as the TIDE is supposed to be up and running next year in Norfolk.

With it would be commuter stations smack dab in the middle of neighborhoods and communities.

“We just don’t want a lot of extra traffic, its a real small neighborhood,” said Kevin Baird, a Virginia Beach resident.

Baird and dozens of other Virginia Beach homeowners took their concerns right to Hampton Roads Transit officials.

Kevin says he is worried that a light rail or high speed bus station in the middle of his Lynnhaven neighborhood would create unnecessary traffic.

“It’s a quiet neighborhood and we want to keep it that way.”

Preliminary neighborhood stations would be all over the beach from Witchduck to Lynnhaven and all the way to the oceanfront.

HRT officials say they are still in the planning stages of working on what the actual station would look like, but want to work hand in hand with the public to figure it out.

“They’re very interested in looking at bicycle connections, people can get off the interstate to get to a station area.”