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

DATE: FRIDAY, September 17, 1993                   TAG: 9309170138
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Staff report
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

LOCAL ROADS TO WELCOME $3 MILLION

The Wilder administration announced Thursday that a bit of election year bookkeeping will allow it to accelerate construction of $108 million worth of highway projects across the state, including about $3 million in the Roanoke area and New River Valley.

Under a schedule released by the governor's office, the state will advertise in November for bids on three area projects, including replacement and reconstruction of several sections of U.S. 460 in Montgomery County.

That $1.3 million job is the biggest in the package locally. Also included is slightly more than $1 million for replacing guardrails at various locations on U.S. 11 in Roanoke County and about $700,000 for painting bridges at several locations in the Salem highway district.

Gov. Douglas Wilder said the effort to accelerate the projects, which were not expected to begin until late 1994, grew out of the development this spring of President Clinton's economic stimulus package.

The Clinton program failed in Congress, but Wilder said accelerated highway-building schedules developed in anticipation of it can be met by using available state funds.

Federal aid expected next year will be used to reimburse the state accounts, he said.

The largest chunk of the money, about $29 million, will go to various projects in Northern Virginia.

More than $22 million will be spent in the Richmond area, and about $4 million will go to projects in Hampton Roads.

by CNB