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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 18, 1990                   TAG: 9007180371
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                LENGTH: Short

FRANKLIN BOARD GOES ON RECORD AGAINST PARKWAY

The Franklin County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to endorse U.S. Rep. L.F. Payne in his opposition to extending the Roanoke River Parkway beyond the entrance to the proposed Explore park.

The vote put on record Franklin County's growing unease with plans to build the proposed river parkway from the Blue Ridge Parkway to Hardy Ford. The Franklin supervisors fear the scenic road would add more traffic to the narrow, twisting roads between Roanoke and Smith Mountain Lake.

Payne opposes extending the parkway beyond the Explore entrance partly because most of his constituents in the Hardy area oppose the road.

In recent years, the Franklin board had lent qualified support to the river parkway and Explore in hopes the two projects would lead to federal and state money to improve access to Smith Mountain Lake. But that support evaporated in recent months as it became evident that river parkway supporters - faced with escalating cost estimates - would have no extra money to help roads in neighboring localities.

by CNB