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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 15, 1992                   TAG: 9202150099
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: CATHRYN MCCUE
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

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COMPLICATED, OR WHAT?

Confused about this direct-link business?

Proposals for improving highway travel between Roanoke and Blacksburg and Blacksburg and Christiansburg has been evolving for several years. At one time 21 routes were drawn on a map.

Now it's boiled down to three, all interrelated but also separate.

Alternate 6, the "direct link" between south Blacksburg and Interstate 81, running through Ellett Valley. Cost: about $108 million, including new technology to make it a "smart road" designed for safer, speedier highways. Not yet approved by the state Board of Transportation, which meets Thursday to designate a route.

Alternate 3A, the U.S. 460 bypass. To run parallel to 460, from the top of the Christiansburg bypass to the bottom of the Blacksburg bypass. Cost: about $53.5 million. Approved by state and in early stages of engineering.

The "Spur," actually a phase of Alternate 3A. Less than a mile long, it would connect the bottom of the Christiansburg bypass to I-81 at a new interchange. Cost: about $27.9 million. State approved as part of Alternate 3A, but is not funded. The Department of Transportation says the link would delay, but not eliminate, the need for the spur.

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