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

DATE: SATURDAY, July 10, 1993                   TAG: 9307100157
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

COUNCIL MAY SEEK FUNDING FOR TRAIL

City Council will hear a recommendation Monday that the city apply for federal funds to reopen a section of the historic Wilderness Road.

The money also would be used to restore Ingles Ferry to carry pedestrian visitors across the New River and restore Ingles Tavern on the other side of the river.

The city's share of the $170,000 project would be $34,000, including $5,000 of in-kind contributions, primarily through donation of professional services and property easements.

The Ingles Ferry-Wilderness Road project would develop an interpretive walking trail and re-establish the original 18th-century ferry connection - 600 feet across the New River between Radford and Pulaski County.

The project would involve about 36 acres in the city and seven acres in Pulaski County, most of it privately owned.

It would allow visitors to take the route traveled by settlers and traders between the current site of "The Long Way Home" amphitheater off First Street (Virginia 232) and Ingles Tavern on the Pulaski County side of the river. Parking and restrooms would be shared with "The Long Way Home."

Jill Barr, city economic development director, said the project could have "a significant impact on the local economy."

"I think it's a project Radford needs to support, especially to build tourism," she said Friday.

The proposed ferry would tap into long-range marketing plans of "The Long Way Home" to attract 20,000 visitors a year to the outdoor drama, she explained. Paid attendance in 1992 was about 3,600, and this year's is running about double that, according to local officials.

Barr, said the city has been looking into ways to use a Federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act grant for some time. "This is the project we felt was most likely to benefit our local economy," she said.

If money is approved, the project could be done within two years. Part of the project would be in Pulaski County, Barr said, but the county has no obligation to contribute, since the city is initiating it. Even so, she said the city hopes the county will help, since the entire area could benefit. "I could see spin-off developments from this project," she said.

by CNB