Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 17, 1992 TAG: 9201170337
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BEN BEAGLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
PANEL KILLS BYPASS EAST OF ROANOKE
The state Transportation Board agreed unanimously Thursday that the Roanoke Valley's proposed eastern bypass should not be built."It's a done deal," Steve Musselwhite, Salem District board member, said in a telephone interview after the board's vote in a Richmond meeting. "It's no longer an option. It's dead."
Musselwhite said the action means that residents along several proposed routes for the road "can sleep easier tonight."
Residents of Roanoke, Roanoke County and neighboring counties said at a November public hearing that they opposed the road.
They said that even if there was no money to build it, choosing a route for the road or keeping it alive would lessen the value of their property in the eyes of potential buyers.
On one hand, Musselwhite told the board, "we simply just cannot afford to do it." Cost estimates ranged up to $233 million.
And on the other, "citizens' properties are being held hostage" because of uncertainty over when the road will be built, Musselwhite said.
"You truly don't have to be a rocket scientist to get the message of the people," he said. "They don't want the highway. It's that simple."
Without further discussion, the board voted to ax the project.
Musselwhite said the board also agreed to stay with plans to improve Alternate U.S. 220, or Virginia 604, in its existing corridor. The road runs between Interstate 81 in Botetourt County and U.S. 460 at Bonsack.
Engineers appeared to favor the existing alternate route corridor as the first segment of the now-dead bypass between U.S. 11 and U.S. 460. But another proposal would have run it through the Murray and Jeter farms. "These are working farms," Musselwhite said, and they shouldn't be touched by highway construction.
Musselwhite said the state has agreed to pay for an interchange with the Blue Ridge Parkway off Virginia 116 in the Mount Pleasant section of Roanoke County. The federal government would have to approve the intersection.
The state paid several million dollars to engineering consultants before the road was killed.