NORFOLK, Va. — "It's nuts."
That's how Emily Kreiter describes the daily traffic along Monticello Avenue in Norfolk.
Early Friday afternoon featured a traffic jam scene at the corner of 25th Street, right where Kreiter works.
"That train, when that parks on the tracks, this is pretty much what you get, it will be parked there for hours," she said. "You have people constantly trying to cut through here. The amount of near misses and horns honking is crazy."
She gets a front-row seat anytime there's a crash.
"At least three a month," she said. "There was a really bad one out here. I think it actually involved three cars a couple of weeks ago...just the whole front end was smashed."
This area is the focus of a Virginia Department of Transportation study for traffic congestion. It will also analyze safety concerns on St. Paul's Boulevard between East Charlotte and Church Streets. That's near The Scope.
There were nearly 400 crashes on this stretch of road between 2018 and 2022, according to VDOT's records. In total, three of the crashes were deadly. Seven of the crashes involved bikes—two of those had a fatality.
The goal of the study is to improve pedestrian, bike and transit access in addition to reducing traffic congestion.
Senior planning specialist Jerry Pauley told News 3's Jay Greene the survey is in its infancy. Traffic data has already been collected.
"We want to get the drivers' perspective on what they see to be the problems within the area," Pauley said. "So we can incorporate that and develop a more informed projects or more informed solutions."
At the end of the survey, the study's team will give the information to the City of Norfolk along with any suggested improvements.
"The city could go through that list and say 'We liked number one, we liked number six, and we like number eight' and will apply for funding for those," Pauley said.
In some cases, Pauley said, there might not be a solution.
"This study is being conducted as part of the Project Pipelineprogram, created by the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB)," according to the project's website. "Project Pipeline is a performance-based planning program to identify cost-effective solutions to multimodal transportation needs in Virginia. Project Pipeline is led by Virginia’s Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment(OIPI), in collaboration with VDOT and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation(DRPT)."
Kreiter believes a traffic light could improve the area.
"I don't know if it's providing more routes with access that go under the tracks or what, but really, this is, for lack of a better term, absolutely ridiculous," she said.
The survey is open through Sept. 20. Click or tap here to submit your feedback.
