Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 19, 1994 TAG: 9402190150
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
But Virginia Secretary of Transportation Robert Martinez tried to allay concerns Friday that the project would push aside what many perceive as the New River Valley's greatest transportation need: the bypass that would link Christiansburg to Blacksburg.
"We want the smart highway to become a reality," said Martinez, speaking at a National Engineers' Week breakfast at Virginia Tech.
Gov. George Allen made a proposal to General Motors last month in return for the automaker's agreement to let the state and Virginia Tech be part of a group shooting for $145 million in federal funds for "smart car" research.
Some have expressed worries that smart-road funding might siphon off money from the bypass or other projects.
It's a worry that dates back five years to when Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Montgomery County were bickering about where to put their support: the bypass or the smart road.
Blacksburg was on the side of the latter, because it would speed travel between the town and Roanoke. Christiansburg preferred the former, because it would ease traffic along the U.S. 460 bypass.
Steve Musselwhite, then a member of the state Transportation Board, helped broker an agreement among the governments to work together. The governments each passed a resolution affirming the need for both projects, although Christiansburg still placed a higher priority on the bypass.
The resolutions supported a direct link to Roanoke being built with "the best [funding] sources available."
Until Thursday, it was assumed that the "best sources available" would be nontraditional sources, like federal grants or a state bond issue.
A two-lane, six-mile road from Blacksburg to the interstate is estimated to cost about $50 million.
Musselwhite, who left the board last summer, said on Friday that he was surprised the state had found money in its general six-year road-construction fund.
"Maybe [Martinez] knows something I don't know," Musselwhite said.
Musselwhite, a longtime supporter of the smart road, said, "I'm delighted to see there's interest . . . to move this project along. I'm just concerned that other projects don't get hurt."
Jeff London, chairman of the Montgomery County planning commission, said he was also concerned that the money applied to smart road construction would negatively affect other, more necessary projects.
But while the proposal could affect some projects both in and out of the Salem District, it won't affect the bypass, known as 3A, Martinez said later Friday.
That's because the money for it is coming from national highway funds, he said. The money for the smart road would come from other primary highway funds, Surface Transportation Program monies and perhaps other sources.
"This project would not be competing against 3A," Martinez said. "It's not going to bring 3A to a stop, or the work on [Interstate] 81.
"None of that is going to be slowed down by this project."
If the GM-led consortium does not win the grant, the entire situation would be rendered moot. At least one other group, led by automotive manufacturer TRW Inc., is known to be vying for the money.
But if the GM consortium were to win the grant, it could mean as much as $300 million in research and development funds coming into the Roanoke-Blacksburg region, Martinez said.
"That is a figure that commands attention," he said.
The road would be an experimental test bed for Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems technology. The $11 million investment would translate to a $44 million return - the 20 percent-80 percent matching funds mandated by the grant, he said.
"It has an immediate return to the state," he said. Other projects won't bring the same kind of economic development, jobs and research money here. "This will."
"It gives us tremendous opportunity for economic growth," he said.
Some local leaders were content to let the transportation department do its job.
"For our economic future, I think it's real important to have both of them," said Don Moore, the county's economic development director. The "research there would bring tremendous amounts of money into our community."
Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth, while admitting that the funding offer "was news to me," said, "it's important that everyone understand that 3A and Option 6 [the smart road] are really geared to work together. In order for for one to be accepted, it's important for the other one to be in existence."
He didn't think 3A would suffer.
"It would be out of character for [the Department of Transportation] to derail the project just to get [$11] million," Hedgepeth said.
Even Nick Rush, a Montgomery County supervisor opposed to the smart road, wasn't going to get irate about the new funding wrinkle.
"I figured that was going to happen all along," said Rush, but he added that he hoped it wouldn't compete against more pressing area transportation needs. He said the bypass is still a higher priority for him.
"I don't anticipate another big fight" among local leaders, he said.
The governor, who said during the campaign that he didn't think the smart road was a high priority, was persuaded to sign on after four smart-road backers, including Antoine Hobeika, director of Tech's Center for Transportation Research, spoke with Martinez.
Of the timing of the redirected policy, Martinez said, "We have a new administration in place."
by CNB