Cop puts stop to traffic problems
by Veni Fields

There are certain things the VWC community can take for granted. Access to and from campus, particularly at rush hour, is one of them.

Due to an arrangement between Virginia Wesleyan College and the Virginia Beach Police Department, the simple act of driving into, or out of, the campus’ only entrance is possible, even relatively easy, between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. during the regular school year. This wasn’t always the case.

Students today may complain about the minor inconvenience of waiting for traffic to be halted in one direction or the other, but the nightmare that once existed at the VWC entrance is happily a thing of the past. Ten-minute waits to get out the “gate,” and traffic backed up to Baker Road to get in, are history.

The trouble began in the late ’80s when Wesleyan Drive was extended east beyond Baker Road.

Local residents, students and employees of VWC and nearby Norfolk Academy were soon faced with battling an onslaught of late afternoon short-cutters between Northampton Boulevard and the Haygood area, where Wesleyan Drive terminates. But it was more than backed-up traffic at the school and on Wesleyan Drive that prompted VWC officials to approach the city for assistance.

“People think it’s a convenience thing,” said Director of Campus Security Richard Safford. “It’s not for convenience. It’s for safety. We feared for people because they were trying to sneak out in front of cars. It’s dangerous. We wanted to eliminate that danger.”

The Virginia Beach police department granted permission for their officers to direct traffic in front of the school on a “volunteer” basis during their off-duty hours. Sub-contracted by VWC’s security department, the officers are paid directly by the school.

Master Police Officer D. L. Rhodes, a ten-year veteran of the Beach police department, has been in charge of the detail for the last six years. One of three police officers who are relatively permanent fixtures in front of the school at rush hour, Rhodes recruits officers on an annual basis. Participating officers are assigned a regular schedule, which they share on a rotating basis throughout the school year.

“It gets difficult in the summer,” Rhodes said. “It’s not in the budget for us to work during the summer, so the staff has problems then.”

At this point two questions invariably arise: “why not a traffic light;” and “will Wesleyan Drive ever be widened?” The answers are simple: maybe and maybe — but not any time soon.

A traffic light is a six-digit expense, and requires a certain amount of street modification. Due to the “dual city” status of the road itself, resolution of the problem is tricky, at best. Wesleyan Drive traverses two cities: Norfolk to the west and Virginia Beach to the east. The approximate dividing line lays slightly west of the VWC entrance. What this means is that cooperation and communication between the two cities is necessary in order for certain transactions to occur. The bottom line: concrete plans for the potential joint venture have never been made.

“We know there is a problem now,” said Travis Campbell of the Virginia Beach Planning Department. “At one time we were thinking about [improving Wesleyan Drive], but it’s not as big a priority in Norfolk.”

Norfolk Academy (which many VWC commuters regard with a certain amount of envy at certain hours of the day) received its traffic light around 1992. The Academy covered part of the cost, which VWC will have to do in the event of receiving a light of its own.

Traffic studies performed over the years by both Virginia Beach and Norfolk have yielded results which indicate the need for widening Wesleyan Drive between Baker Road and Northampton Boulevard into a four-lane thoroughfare.

“It was on the agenda for the early ‘90s,” said Bill Joseph, VWC’s vice president for finance and business affairs, “but it keeps getting pushed back,” again due to the dual-city challenge.

“Our best hope,” Joseph said, “is trying to push the city to move ahead with the project.”