Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 31, 1990 TAG: 9007310245
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: FORT CHISWELL LENGTH: Short
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, said approval of the $250,000 he requested was the key hurdle for his bill, since such measures at this level practically always get full House of Representatives approval.
The money should be available by October, he said.
It will pay for planning and building the Gateway Visitors' Center on land made available by the mall developers at Interstates 81 and 77. Boucher said traffic averages 41,000 vehicles a day, or nearly 15 million a year, at that intersection, making it the major one in Southwest Virginia.
U.S. Forest Service employees will run the center, distributing information and brochures about tourism attractions in the region. These will include not only the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area and wilderness areas, but non-Forest Service attractions as well.
"This is a part of our effort to promote the tourism economy of our area, which I think has a bright future," Boucher said.
A one-room visitors' center with Forest Service personnel already exists at the mall in space donated by the developers, with the understanding that a permanent center would be built on mall property but separate from the mall stores. Boucher said the developer's donation of the site makes the project less costly.
Once the money is appropriated, he said, "it's simply a matter then of how quickly the Forest Service can get the plans drawn." He said he anticipated the center would be completed next year.
by CNB