Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 18, 1992 TAG: 9202180273
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE and GREG EDWARDS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
MONTGOMERY BOARD BACKS `SMART ROAD'
It's smarter to support the "smart road" than kill it and risk economic stagnation, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors decided Monday night.The board voted 5-2 to reject a move to withdraw support for the proposed Blacksburg-Roanoke direct highway - the first road in the nation that would be built from the ground up using innovative electronic systems geared for safer and speedier travel.
About 80 citizens packed the board room, the majority wearing handmade "roadbuster" signs: a red circle with a slash through the numeral 6. The road is known by many as Alternate 6.
They didn't leave the meeting completely empty-handed, however. The board voted to oppose construction of an interchange along Alternate 6 in Ellett Valley, concerned it would open up the rural valley to unwanted development that the county cannot afford.
The board, having heard from the road foes at a meeting last week, invited several key proponents of the link to speak Monday to clear up supervisors' concerns.
One, Virginia Tech Dean of Engineering Wayne Clough, said the "smart road" would enable the county to compete against politically strong urban centers for hundreds of millions of dollars being spent to develop Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems. Congress has already designated $5.9 million for the direct link for testing the technology.
Clough also said he has talked with several corporations keenly interested in supplying Tech with research funds, and possibly locating in the New River Valley.
Another advocate, Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth, said the road will have a profound impact on the county's ability to support itself in the long-term future.
"I can't tell you [that] if Alternate 6 is built, that X number of companies are going to come here in 1998 or whatever," Hedgepeth said. But without it, the county, town and university would be seriously hampered in their economic development efforts, he said.
"There is still a silent majority out here," Hedgepeth said. "Mr. Rush, I see you smiling."
"Yes, I was laughing," answered newly elected Supervisor Larry "Nick" Rush.
Controversy over the road accelerated last week when Rush introduced a resolution to rescind the board's support of the link, which would run through his mostly rural district.
Alternate 6 would stretch about five miles, from Blacksburg to Interstate 81 a few miles north of the Christiansburg exit. Taking into account an increase in vehicle traffic, the link would save about six minutes' travel time in the year 2015 and cost about $81 million.
Another $27.5 million would make the road a "smart" highway, which proponents say would attract clean industries and create jobs for Southwest Virginia.
The transportation board is scheduled to vote on a route for the link Thursday at its monthly meeting in Richmond.
Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said Monday's vote sends a strong signal to the transportation board - and the rest of the state - that Montgomery County governments are united. "I'm happy we're back to where we started," he said.
The effort to kill the road was the first big test for Rush, and he held his ground well in a losing cause.
"Obviously, I'm disappointed with the outcome," he said after the vote. "It's been my feeling the road wasn't needed. . . . A lot of citizens felt the same way I did."
Many opponents, including Rush, charged that the public had been shut out of planning process years ago, before any hearing or public meeting was held.
In 1989, officials from the county, its two towns, and the university hammered out a resolution by which they all supported building a direct link and a U.S. 460 bypass.
Steve Musselwhite, Salem District member of the state Board of Transportation, had orchestrated that meeting. Last week, he'd hinted that the county would jeopardize state funding for another, much-needed road if it withdrew support for the link.
That road - called Alternate 3A - would siphon traffic off the crowded, retail-filled section of U.S. 460 between Blacksburg and Christiansburg. The state has approved the road and begun preliminary survey work.
Musselwhite was unable to come to Monday's meeting.
In a Feb. 17 letter to County Administrator Betty Thomas, state Transportation Commissioner Ray Pethtel said that the highway department has moved ahead with its plans based on the regional agreement.
While decisions on building roads rest entirely with the state board, the county's official support for Alternate 6 could have an impact on the state's decision to build it, Pethtel said.
The state weighs the wishes of a local government on projects lying within its boundaries and other factors on regional projects, he said.
Pethtel assured Thomas that the transportation board has Alternate 3A as a priority for funding in past years.
Del. Joan Munford, D-Blacksburg, reiterated her support for the link in a telephone interview later Monday.
"There has been growing opposition and they need to be heard," Munford said. She's received much mail and calls from opponents recently, and is willing to listen to her constituents, she said.
But her position on the link has been consistent, she said. "I've always felt the link could help economically and bring us jobs."
Supervisor Jim Moore, who sided with Rush on the move to kill the road, said he had voted for a direct route to I-81 in the past because he believed that it was either that, or a U.S. 460 bypass. He said building both would cost too much.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.