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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990                   TAG: 9005180870
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WINCHESTER                                LENGTH: Short

JAMES RIVER FERRY WINS OUT OVER BRIDGE FOR NOW

Instead, the board opted Thursday to improve ferry service between James City and Surry counties.

The board acknowledged that a bridge may be needed to replace the 90-year-old Jamestown-Scotland Ferry at some point but deferred action for at least 10 years. It directed the Transportation Department to preserve the right of way for a bridge.

The department also will review the ferry's toll structure with a view toward recovering a larger share of the ferry's operating costs.

The study probably will lead to an increase in the cost of riding the ferry. Books of commuter tickets cost 25 cents per ticket, and single tickets cost $2 each.

Secretary of Transportation John G. Milliken said building a bridge raised environmental questions.

The U.S. Department of Interior opposed the bridge. In a letter to James M. Tumlin, the Federal Highway Administration's division administrator in Richmond, Jonathan P. Deason, director of the Interior Department's Office of Environmental Affairs, said the proposed bridge would constitute a "visual intrusion" that "would substantially impair the historic integrity" of Jamestown's historic sites.

Deason also said constructing a bridge would destroy irreplaceable wetlands and jeopardize inclusion of that section of the James River in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.