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Linking land, building big: How News 3 has covered the region's changing landscape over 75 years

Linking land, building big: How News 3 has covered the region's changing landscape over 75 years
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From the $4 billion Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel expansion to the $350 million Atlantic Park development in Virginia Beach, massive ongoing construction projects promise to change life in coastal Virginia.

News 3 has covered these and other big development stories closely, including the upcoming opening of Atlantic Park's most prominent feature, an artificial surf lagoon.

But this isn't the station's first rodeo. Over its 75 years of existence, there's been a lot of changing landscape to cover.

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In 1956, WTAR reporter Joel Carlson (right) interviews a construction official on Norfolk's Willoughby Spit in front of the under-construction Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.

In 1956, WTAR's Joel Carlson stood on the banks of the Willoughby Spit in Norfolk, before taking a tour of construction of the "future" Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel — the first underwater crossing between South Hampton Roads and the Virginia Peninsula.

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An aerial view of Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel construction in the 1950s.

That same year, station archive video shows Carlson aboard the Eastern Shore Ferry — the only option taking passengers between the Eastern Shore and Tidewater. But during that report, there were already rumblings of something more.

“A possible link between Cape Charles and Cape Henry," is how Carlson described it.

WTAR covered the construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel all the way through to 1964, when it finally opened, connecting the tip of the Eastern Shore to Chic's Beach in Virginia Beach.

The 1950s and 60s marked a time a major change for Hampton Roads. City boundaries changed and still-iconic local landmarks went up.

In 1958, the under-construction Portsmouth Naval Medical Center changed the city's skyline along the Elizabeth River.

Archive video from 1963 shows one of the first Chesapeake City Council meetings celebrating the newly-formed city.

Then, later in the decade, News 3 was there for massive urban redevelopment in Downtown Norfolk, including the simultaneous construction of Scope Arena and neighboring Chrysler Hall (see article cover photo).

“I think it’s going to add an exciting new structure to our downtown complex," then-Mayor Roy B. Martin said of the development at the time.

The Hampton Coliseum actually opened prior to the Scope in 1969 and further north in 1973, News 3 has archive video of a meeting where Anheuser-Busch discussed traffic plans for a theme park to be built outside Williamsburg.

50 years later, Busch Gardens remains a major destination for the region.

In the 1990s, News 3 was there for the opening of a third bridge tunnel — the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge Tunnel between Newport News and Suffolk. It fully opened to traffic in 1992.

On April 14, 1993, "Newschannel 3 Eyewitness News" gave reporter Stephanie Taylor a true home run of an assignment. Taylor covered the excitement around the Norfolk Tides' first baseball game at the new Harbor Park.

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On April 14, 1993, a sold-out crowd watched the first baseball game at Norfolk's Harbor Park — the then-new home of the Norfolk Tides.

“Fans tell me the best part of Harbor Park is you can stand in line for food and drinks and still watch the baseball game," Taylor said of a ballpark feature that's still beloved today.

In 1999, News 3 cameras caught a big crowd gathering in the Outer Banks to catch a major move to preserve history. Crews put the historic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on wheels to move it 2,900 feet inland to avoid erosion from the Atlantic Ocean surf.

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In 1999, crews in the Outer Banks put the historic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on wheels. The structure was moved 2,900 further from the shoreline to protect it from Atlantic Ocean beach erosion.

That brings us to 2000 and what might be the area's first major development of the new millennium.

As the cityscape changed at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, city leadership decided to create a new 'town center' nine miles inland. Several acres of woods at the corner of Virginia Beach and Independence Boulevards were cleared to make room for the Virginia Beach Town Center.

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An early rendering of the Virginia Beach Town Center ahead of the development's groundbreaking in 2000.

In preparation for construction, WTKR sent a crew north to the similarly-designed Reston Town Center to get an idea of what life could be like in the new development.

Town Center's most prominent structures — the Armada Hoffler building and Westin Town Center — were completed in 2003 and 2006, respectively. The latter remains the tallest building in Virginia.

Fast forward about 20 years, and the ongoing $200 million Pembroke Square development across the street once again promises to change the neighborhood, as do other major developments with region-wide impacts.

News 3 will once again be watching closely, as it has for 75 years.