Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 23, 1993 TAG: 9305230079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ROSE HILL LENGTH: Short
The project, started Friday, will cost about $7.9 million and will widen to four lanes a 3.2-mile section of U.S. 58 near Rose Hill. Construction on that section is scheduled to be finished by November 1994.
The project is the first of six to four-lane a 22-mile stretch of U.S. between Cumberland Gap and Hardy Creek in western Lee County by late 1996. The remaining projects are scheduled to begin construction within the next 18 months, with the total cost of all six projects estimated at $60.5 million.
A 200-year-old white oak tree, thought to have been planted to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution, was the backdrop for the groundbreaking ceremonies. About 100 state and local officials and Lee County residents gathered at the site, which soon will become the median of the new highway.
"It is hard to overestimate the importance of Route 58 to Virginia. In its length of 508 miles, it traverses the widest part of the state and it connects two of the most widely divergent areas," said Ray D. Pethtel, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Transportation.
"Virginia is truly geographically blessed when it comes to variety. From the tops of the mountain peaks to Atlantic Ocean beaches and the best of what lies in between, all of it can be experienced and enjoyed without ever leaving Virginia," Pethtel said. "And knitting that vast and varied terrain together is Route 58."
by CNB