Sandbridge Road – Nimmo ParkwayPHASE VII-A CIP 2-078

C I T I ZEN INFORMAT ION MEET ING

INTRODUCTIONThe City of Virginia Beach welcomes you to this Citizen Information Meeting for the Sandbridge Road – Nimmo Parkway Phase VII-A project. The purpose of this meeting is to provide the public with an opportunity to offer comments or submit written material concerning the preliminary design of these roadway improvements. Representatives from the City of Virginia Beach and the design consultants are present to discuss the projects and answer questions.

Written comments are welcomed and may be provided on the comment sheet inside this brochure. Questions or concerns raised from this meeting will be addressed by the City of Virginia Beach Department of Public Works.

Tonight’s meeting is presented by the City of Virginia Beach.

MEETING INFORMATIONDECEMBER 10, 20155:30-7:30 P.M. Red Mill Elementary School1860 Sandbridge RoadVirginia Beach, VA 23456

PROJECT SCHEDULEThe following project schedule is based on the current status and the available funding:

Phase StartDesign Summer 2014Right-of-Way Acquisition Fall 2016 (1 year)*Utility Relocation Fall 2017 (1 year)*Construction Fall 2018 (2 years)*

*Once funding becomes available

CIVIL RIGHTSRepresentatives from the City of Virginia Beach are present to discuss the project and answer your questions. It is the responsibility of members of the City to ensure that all members of the community are afforded the opportunity to participate in public decisions on transportation systems and projects affecting them. The City of Virginia Beach ensures nondiscrimination in all programs and activities in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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COMMENTSComment sheets are available in this handout, the reception table, and in the project presentation areas. In order for your comments to be made a part of the official meeting records, they must be submitted in writing and either left in the comment box at the meeting or mailed to the following address by January 9, 2016.

MR. JASON WILSON, P.E.Project Manager

Department of Public WorksMunicipal Center, Building 22405 Courthouse DriveVirginia Beach, VA 23456-9031Phone: (757) 385-4131

www.vbgov.com

4’Paved

4’Paved

Varies 5’ 10’Shared Use Path

3’ 3’ 2’ 4’ 8’ 4’BikeLane

12’Thru Lane

12’Thru Lane

4’BikeLane

8’ 4’ 2’ 3’3’ 10’Shared Use Path

5’ Varies

2:1

BLConst.

2:13:1

4:1 3:14:1

TYPICAL SECTION

Sandbridge Road – Nimmo Parkway Phase VII – ACitizen Information MeetingCIP 2-078 December 10, 2015

PROJECT HISTORYSandbridge Road is located in the southeastern portion of Virginia Beach and serves local residents and businesses as well as the Sandbridge resort community. Sandbridge Beach is a popular destination for tourists and residents alike, but, due to the nature of the landscape, the area is not easily accessible by road. Sandbridge Road is currently the only public road that connects the community and has been deemed a substandard corridor to travel because of a series of non-standard horizontal curves, little-to-no shoulder widths, and inconsistent lighting along its length. Additionally, the corridor is used by bicyclists and pedestrians, but no accommodations exist for their safety. The purpose of the Sandbridge Road – Nimmo Parkway Phase VII-A project is to improve safety along part of this corridor. Although the entire road spans 5.3 miles, the portion of Sandbridge Road that this project targets extends west 1.1 miles from Sandpiper Road.

PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTSThe purpose of this project is to improve safety along the project corridor for motorists and pedestrians alike. A traffic study was performed to determine if additional lanes are needed to improve traffic flow. The study examined the City’s

2015 Comprehensive Plan as well as the Hampton Roads Long Range Travel Demand Model and determined that neither Sandbridge Road nor the Sandbridge Resort area is anticipated to have significant changes in land use which would require additional lanes. Thus the roadway is proposed as a 2-lane, undivided highway.

Sandbridge Road has a collector functional classification and 45 MPH design speed. The City’s Bike and Trails Plan designates this corridor shall have on and off road facilities. These three elements establish the roadway typical section. The roadway typical section will maintain its existing characteristics of shoulders and roadside ditches; however, the current section will be improved to include a lane width of 12 feet, a 4-foot marked bicycle lane, a shoulder width of 8 feet (4’ paved and 4’ gravel), and a 10-foot wide shared-use path with graded shoulders on each side of the road. City standards recommend 12-foot wide paths; however, in an effort to minimize wetland impacts, the shared-use path width will be reduced to 10 feet. Lastly, a water quality swale is proposed between the roadway and shared-use path to not only drain the roadway, but also to satisfy stormwater management requirements for the project. All other fill slopes behind the path will have a ratio of 2-foot horizontal to 1-foot vertical to minimize impacts to adjacent wetlands.

Since Sandbridge Road is the only public roadway that accesses the Sandbridge community, it is important that the roadway be traversable during large storm events. To plan for such events, the roadway should be built at an elevation that is passable during a 100-year flood event, as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In addition to being passable during the 100-year storm event, critical facilities are required to consider flood risk based on sea level rise. In this area, the City is planning for up to 3 feet of sea level rise to occur over the lifetime of this roadway. Therefore, Sandbridge Road’s elevation is being designed to be above the existing 100-year flood elevation plus an additional 3 feet. The minimum roadway elevation at the edge of paved shoulder is proposed to be elevation 7.0.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTRAINTS AND PERMITTINGA wetland delineation was conducted on the project corridor in the winter of 2015 and confirmed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) in a Preliminary Jurisdictional Determination (PJD) letter dated May 12, 2015. Wetlands were identified throughout the majority of the study corridor and primarily consist of nontidal forested wetlands, emergent

wetlands, and roadside ditches that display an ordinary high water mark (OHMW). Nontidal scrub-shrub wetlands were identified on the north side of Sandbridge Road near the intersection with Sandpiper Road. In addition, a nontidal open water ditch feature that appears to provide a hydrologic connection between the Black Gut and the south side of Sandbridge Road was identified within the central portion of the corridor perpendicular to the roadway.

Encroachment within wetlands will require a permit from the COE and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Since the project corridor outside of the existing roadway is primarily wetlands and the improvements to the roadway will result in impacts that exceed general permit thresholds, individual permits from both the COE and DEQ will be required. Coordination with the COE and DEQ was conducted concurrent with the design in order to help facilitate the process of obtaining the required permits. Currently, a draft Joint Permit Application (JPA) has been submitted to both the COE and DEQ and is under review.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENTThe project is still in the preliminary engineering phase with the design at approximately 30% completion. Public comment resulting from this meeting will be reviewed and considered prior to the advancement of the next design phase.

ESTIMATED COSTSThe total cost for the project is approximately $20 million. Currently the project is only partially funded through design and is completely City-funded. Funds have not yet been secured for right-of-way acquisition and construction. The City may explore opportunities for other funding sources such as revenue-sharing in the future to secure 100 percent funding for the project. A breakdown of the total estimated costs is as follow:

Design $1,430,000Site Acquisition $200,000Private Utilities $850,000Construction $17,429,000

Total $19,909,000