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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 18, 1990                   TAG: 9007180406
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THE RIVER PARKWAY AND ITS CRITICS

CONGRESSMAN L. F. Payne's opposition to extending the proposed Roanoke River Parkway into Bedford and Franklin counties may faithfully reflect the views of his constituents most vocal on the subject. And Payne is probably right in arguing that the success of Explore Park doesn't depend on a parkway link to Smith Mountain Lake.

In opposing the extension, however, Payne is doing a disservice to his constituents, including some of those now most critical of the parkway proposal. Twenty or 30 years from now, they might be wishing their congressman had taken the opposite tack.

Whether the state-owned Explore Park can be developed as its sponsors hope depends on whether they can raise the millions of private dollars to do the job. And whether it can draw out-of-town visitors depends far less on a National Park Service link to the lake than on one to the Blue Ridge Parkway and thence the Roanoke Valley. The latter stretch of road, to be built first, is in the 6th District of Congressman James Olin. Olin supports its construction; Payne apparently does not oppose it.

In addition to construction money for the first leg, however, Olin also is asking Congress for land-acquisition money for the entire route. That makes sense, for several reasons:

A river parkway from the Roanoke Valley to Smith Mountain Lake can stand on its own merits, regardless of what happens at Explore Park. Indeed, proposals for such a parkway predate the Explore concept by decades; for hundreds of thousands of Southwest Virginians, and millions of Americans, it would provide access to the scenic Roanoke River gorge. A side benefit, albeit minor, is provision of an alternative route for increasingly heavy traffic between the valley and the lake.

Meanwhile, putting the river corridor in the hands of the National Park Service can stand on its own merits, regardless of whether or when the parkway is built. The worst-case scenario, like the worst-case scenario of the state's purchase of the Explore Park site, is protection of scenic land from possible degradation in the future. That's not bad.

Locking in the right-of-way probably would be less expensive now than later - and would protect many of the people who are now most adamant in their opposition to extending a Roanoke River Parkway to the lake.

For example, the route in Bedford County chosen by the Park Service bypasses the Hardy community, where opposition to the idea of a river parkway has been intense. If the project collapses, they may feel they've won the whole loaf instead of half of one. But it's risky to assume that the idea of a Blue Ridge Parkway-Smith Mountain Lake connection wouldn't arise again, and that in its new guise it still would envision an environmentally sensitive parkway and still would follow a route that bypasses the community.

A similar shortsightedness is evident among those in Franklin and Bedford officialdom who have misgivings about the parkway extension. The basic fear seems to be that encouraging Blue Ridge Parkway (and, if it's developed, Explore Park) traffic to take a look at the lake would make even more pressing the need for better roads around the lake.

That's true enough. But the same general point - that growth creates problems - could be said of virtually any kind of economic development. On that score, tourism as one egg in a locality's economic basket poses fewer problems than many. The answer is to address the problems, not fight the growth. More leadership from elected leaders would be helpful.

by CNB