Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 9, 1991 TAG: 9104090460
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BEN BEAGLE/ STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They came to a hearing on 1991-92 road spending in the state Transportation Department's Salem District. After similar hearings all around the state, the board will propose spending for the new fiscal year.
There were so many people that Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth suggested, after the board had heard from federal, state, college and local officials, that "anybody [else] who brings up the subject may be shot."
The prediction of hard times came from John G. Milliken, state transportation secretary. Milliken had the same message at a Bristol District hearing last month.
The Intersate 81-Blacksburg road, with no state money to build or plan it, is in the state's six-year improvement program.
Rep. Jim Olin, D-Roanoke, was at the hearing. He said the federal government is interested in the road across rugged mountain country in Montgomery County as a "smart road" demonstration project.
Although no state money has been allocated to the road, Olin said it "represents a unique opportunity to get cooperative funding" from the federal and state sources.
Olin was joined in backing the road by two other Democrats, U.S. Sen. Charles Robb and Rep. Rick Boucher, who sent statements to the hearing.
In addition, Tech officials, state legislators and city, county and town officials in the New River and Roanoke valleys backed the road that supporters see as essential to economic development in the region.
Hedgepeth said he was worried that improvements to the existing U.S. 460 Christiansburg bypass might convince people that the direct link from I-81 to Blacksburg is not needed.
Also, he said, he was afraid reports of possible "smart highway" research being done on existing I-81 might give the same impression.
The board also was urged to get along with the rebuilding of U.S. 58, which will be done with bond money authorized by the General Assembly.
All of the emphasis on the "smart road" led Gus Saarnijoki, chairman of the Bedford County Board of Supervisors, to say:
"I don't have a Route 58 or a smart highway to speak on."
But he said smaller projects, such as a bypass over Virginia 122 at an at-grade railroad crossing in Moneta, are important to the county, which he said is the fastest growing area west of Richmond.
Ron Ayers of the Moneta Ruritan Club, who has asked for the overpass for years, said the project is "the David among giants of highway projects."
Virginia 122 is one of the main routes to Smith Mountain Lake.
The $6.6 million overpass is in the Transportation Department's six-year plan, but the money is not scheduled to be appropriated until the 1992-93 spending year and will be only $100,000.
John Bassett, president of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co. in Galax, pushed for another project. He told the board that a $900,000 bridge improvement on Old Town Street would allow the company to expand and hire more workers.
Spending for this fiscal year has been cut back, Transportation Secretary Milliken said.
In the Salem District, for example, spending on primary roads has been cut from $21.5 million to $19.2 million.
Milliken blamed a proposed federal formula that doesn't return a fair amount of dollars to the state and misuse of the federal highway trust fund as reasons for the shortage of money.
He said new legislation introduced by the Bush administration "fails to address the transportation issue of the 1990s - urban and suburban congestion."
by CNB