NORFOLK, Va. —
There could be changes coming to Norfolk's Hampton Boulevard corridor. The stretch from the Lafayette River Bridge south to Magnolia Avenue is less than a mile long but sees its fair share of speeding and crashes.
Norfolk city traffic officials met with Larchmont-Edgewater neighborhood residents Monday night to present on and discuss possible changes to the stretch of road.
The main topic of discussion was the possibility of restoring a stoplight, or some other traffic control device, to the intersection of Hampton Boulevard and Jamestown Crescent. Until a crash in 2015, the crossing was regulated by a stoplight. In 2021, a drunk driver took a left onto Jamestown Crescent, flipping their car. A passenger was killed. That sparked conversation and funding from the city about returning a stoplight to the intersection.
“I live here, I live just a few blocks away,” said Michael Crockett, president of the Larchmont-Edgewater Civic League. “You can hear some of the high-speed engines at night. Besides speeding, we’ve had some traffic accidents on Hampton Boulevard itself, and that’s why we’re all here talking tonight.”
However, the neighborhood isn’t sold on bringing stoplights back to the five-way intersection. The civic league recently surveyed residents about the possibility of bringing a traffic light back to the intersection. More than 400 people responded.
“That caused quite the stir with the local neighborhood,” Crockett explained. “About 60% of the people were not in favor of the light going back in.”
Norfolk city leaders presented a number of other ideas on Monday night. Emily Moser, a traffic engineer at the design engineering firm Kimley-Horn explained each one-by-one.
She told attendees, “We are still in the early stages. This is basically a brainstorm of ideas.” Norfolk’s director of transportation John Stevenson emphasized, “We can use multiple measures together, we don't have to pick just one”
The city presented data on the traffic patterns, speeding and crash frequency on the corridor. According to their recent traffic study, there were 71 crashes between Sept. 20, 2018 and Sept. 30, 2023. One of those crashes was fatal, 28% resulted in injury or death.
Leaders shared, that on an average weekday, between 27,000 and 34,000 people travel through the area. They also mentioned that of those people, 85% drive at least 10 miles an hour over the speed limit.
“The problem is the speeding,” said one woman who attended the meeting. “I can barely cross the street to go to church or walk over here because people are flying down the street.”
While many people in the audience expressed their concerns about speeding in the area, none who spoke publicly voiced explicit support for a stoplight at the intersection of Jamestown Crescent and Hampton Boulevard.
“Please don’t build the stoplight,” said one parent in the audience. “My kids can’t nap as it is. If you think the crashes are bad now, they were so much worse back then when we had the light.”
The city launched a survey for the public, where you can share what solutions, you think would help traffic and safety in the area. It will be open until May 19. Click here to access the survey.