
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990                   TAG: 9003152173
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PLANNING FOR I-81 CORRIDOR STARTS

A comprehensive development plan for job creation along Interstate 81 from Bristol to Winchester is the goal of a new planning district council.

Starting informally as the Council for Advancing Regional Development, the group represents the Mount Rogers, New River Valley, Fifth, Central Shenandoah and Lord Fairfax planning districts. The Cumberland Plateau and Lenowisco planning districts in far Western Virginia may join the group later.

Carrying on a theme sounded by Virginia Tech President James McComas at the January meeting of the Fifth Planning District, the council wants to develop a strategic vision to help governments along the I-81 corridor with economic development in the 1990s, said Wayne Strickland, executive director of the Fifth Planning District.

The council wants to start with a design study "on what needs to be done first," Strickland said as the group met in Roanoke on Tuesday. The council will apply to the Economic Development Association in the U.S. Commerce Department for funds and it hopes to have the study completed by September.

In the area west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the council will examine such components as land resources, education, local leadership and transportation, as well as the kinds of business that may be attracted to the corridor, Strickland said. The impact of global events on Western Virginia also will be studied.

The I-81 corridor includes communities within a commuting distance of 30 to 50 miles, such as Clifton Forge and Covington, and will give attention to the intersections of I-81 with I-66, I-64 and I-77.

The council hopes to encompass the Virginia Tech Economic Assistance Center, the Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, the state Department of Economic Development, the Regional Partnership of Roanoke Valley, the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Commission and perhaps George Mason University, among others, Strickland said.

The I-81 corridor has been described as one of the three major areas of the state; the others are Southside and the urban strip from Washington to Norfolk.

by CNB