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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 29, 1993                   TAG: 9307290162
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE ROAD-WIDENING HEARING FORUM NARROWS

Anybody with a fiery speech to give at a hearing today about a proposed four-lane road in Gainsboro will deliver it one-on-one to a state employee, not to a crowd.

The old days of oratory at Virginia Department of Transportation hearings are over.

Enter '90s-style micromanagement.

Rather than speaker after speaker approaching a microphone at Addison Aerospace Magnet School, people will drop in today between 4 and 8 p.m., see exhibits on the proposed widening of Wells Avenue, then leave their reactions in writing or dictate them to a stenographer.

The idea, according to a news release, is to give people wary of public speaking a chance to express themselves.

And rather than have a meeting at a set time, information will be on display for people who work different hours.

A department spokeswoman said this is the first year the department has run hearings in the consensus-building fashion now popular around the country.

The first such hearing in this district was held recently in Montgomery County.

Roanoke wants to broaden Wells Avenue to draw interstate traffic to the adjacent Hotel Roanoke, now being restored, and to provide an east-west conduit for downtown traffic.

City Council approved the road project late last year.

Now the Transportation Department's approval is needed to carry out the plan.

Some leaders and residents of the historic black neighborhood object to the Wells project and to the building of an adjacent four-lane road along Second Street and Gainsboro Road.

They say the roads will ruin what little is left of the old community; city engineers say the roads will ease downtown traffic.

At Addison School, 1220 Fifth St. N.W., the department will display maps, materials and audiovisuals on the Wells proposal. Transportation Department representatives will be there to talk with people about "relocation assistance and tentative schedules for right-of-way acquisition and construction."

People with disabilities who need assistance to attend can call the Transportation Department's district office, 387-5320. The office also will accept written statements for 10 days following the hearing.

by CNB