Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 1, 1991 TAG: 9102010467
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: MARGARET CAMLIN CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"I hope this isn't a meaningless gesture to give us the feeling that we have some control over our lives," said Phillip Welch, one of 26 citizens who spoke out against the plan at a Virginia Department of Transportation public hearing.
"I hope . . . that representative government is still a viable form of government and that if the people of this county don't want a road to be built it will not be built," Welch said, drawing loud applause from the nearly 200 at the Jerry Hines National Guard Armory.
Afterward, Resident Engineer James White said he could not predict whether the project will be canceled. "There is a need for the project. There is some support for the project," he said.
But no support could be found at the hearing, where many were furious at the notion of spending $2.1 million to widen the road for about a half-mile stretch to the Virginia Horse Center north of Lexington.
Transportation officials have said projected increases in traffic demand a wider, safer road. The department has offered an alternative route that would save the trees and widen the road by using a cornfield that belongs to the horse center.
Several people remarked about the state budget crisis, wondering out loud how the department can justify spending so much money for a half-mile project that would benefit just the horse center.
"Your case is weakened at a time of belt-tightening," said Norman Lord, president of the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council. Lord referred to cutbacks in snow removal and reductions in mental health services and weatherization programs.
He said other roads in the county have greater traffic problems and need more help than Virginia 39.
Elizabeth Harralson expressed indignation at plans for a 40-foot-wide median strip to be put in after much of the landscape and trees would be destroyed. "It seems like using a sledgehammer to kill an ant," she said.
The strongest applause went to I-Hsiung Ju, a retired Washington and Lee University art professor whose property could be partly ruined if the Transportation Department goes with its original plan.
Ju put aside his usual reserve to start fighting the road-widening plan when he learned about it in late November.
He thanked the crowd for backing him but admonished them to remember that he does not own the 14 old maples and pines, dogwoods, and chestnuts that would be destroyed. "The trees belong to Virginia; the trees belong to Rockbridge County," he said. "Your ancestors planted them. I'm enjoying the beauty."
Several citizens suggested building another exit ramp off Interstate 64 for the horse center instead of messing up the scenic route, which leads to Goshen Pass. White said this would cost about $10 million and destroy much more private property.
Virginia Horse Center Robert Reel said the trees and the scenic beauty of the highway is "of utmost importance to us."
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on Saturday, February 2, 1991 in the State edition\ Correction
Because of a reporter's error, a story in Friday's paper misidentified the president of the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council. It was Charles Bodie, not Norman Lord, who spoke against plans to widen Virginia 39 at a Department of Transportation public hearing.
Memo: Correction