Ozan Duran for Chesapeake
Issue Page

Traffic and road safety

Fix dangerous roads, speeding, cut-through traffic, unsafe crossings, and roads that grew faster than the neighborhoods around them.

Where this shows up

  • South Norfolk: cut-through traffic, Poindexter/I-464 crossing, Bainbridge/Freeman, Seaboard concrete streets.
  • Indian River: Indian River Road, South Military Highway, Oaklette Bridge, former Ford Plant traffic legacy.
  • Western Branch: Bowers Hill, truck routing, Military Highway, Portsmouth Boulevard.
  • Deep Creek/Camelot: South Military feeder roads, industrial access, Deep Creek Village corridors.
  • Greenbrier: Greenbrier Parkway, Battlefield Boulevard, commercial congestion.
  • Great Bridge/Southern/Grassfield: Battlefield/168/17, rural shoulders beside ditches, school-route traffic.

What the city should do

  • Rank projects by crashes, school routes, emergency access, and years delayed.
  • Require future-buildout traffic studies for rezonings.
  • Use crossings, sidewalks, lighting, signal timing, shoulders, and freight routing before cosmetic work.
  • Make developers pay for capacity they consume.