Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990 TAG: 9003071802
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PETER MATHEWS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Besides 100,000 square feet of retail and office space, Price plans a 200-room hotel, restaurant and 450-seat convention center. The complex, near Price's Holiday Inn, would create 375 jobs, project engineer Don Rainey said.
Price was one of 50 speakers who told Department of Transportation officials Tuesday which route to ease New River Valley traffic was best - or worst.
Officials are studying seven alternatives. Three would link Blacksburg to Interstate 81 and the Roanoke Valley, three others would relieve traffic congestion between Blacksburg and Christiansburg, and the seventh calls for simply widening the existing U.S. 460 to eight lanes.
Dan Brugh, resident engineer for the Department of Transportation, said details of the routes under study are far from final.
"When we get into final design, odds are that the interchange will not look like that," he said.
The seven-hour public hearing at the Holiday Inn offered few other surprises. Route 3A, one of the proposed U.S. 460 bypasses, received the most support, followed by Route 6, which would link Blacksburg to Interstate 81.
Routes 7 and 10, which would run between Blacksburg and Ironto, were roundly criticized as too expensive and environmentally damaging.
Virtually everyone who spoke endorsed a route of some sort. One exception was Alwyn Moss of Blacksburg, who criticized the "accepted economic premise that only by relentless, unending growth and development can we hold our own on this battlefield of a competitive economy."
She said the valley was "hooked like a drug addict" on the notion that development was good.
As expected, New River Valley governments endorsed Routes 3A, 6 or both. Virginia Tech also reaffirmed its commitment to solving both the local traffic congestion and getting a direct link to the interstate.
Brugh said the general agreement would make it easier for department officials to make a recommendation. The state Transportation Board will make the decision in three or four months.
by CNB