Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 29, 1993 TAG: 9309290095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I'm not saying we're going to build it, but I think it ought to be looked at very seriously," the Republican candidate for governor said Tuesday during a visit to Roanoke, where he touted his plan for creating jobs. "I think we really ought to examine that closely."
So just what is a "dry-land port," and what would it do for the region's economy?
That depends on whom you talk to.
The idea for such an inland cargo-loading facility has been promoted chiefly by Morgan Griffith - the Republican candidate for the House of Delegates in the district that includes Salem, Southwest Roanoke County and eastern Montgomery County.
Griffith envisions getting the state to help build warehouse and loading-dock space that small businesses could share.
His goal is to make the Roanoke Valley a distribution center for Virginia and the Carolinas. He believes if enough companies locate warehouses here, they eventually may find it cheaper to put their manufacturing plants and headquarters here, too.
It's also an idea that fellow Republican Allen has seized upon - and enlarged. Allen first dropped references to wanting to build a dry-land port in Southwest Virginia during his remarks two weeks ago to a statewide economic-development group meeting in Roanoke.
Tuesday, after speaking to the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, Allen elaborated on what he's got in mind.
Allen envisions something more like a Southwest Virginia version of Virginia's Inland Port near Front Royal.
Trucks and trains bearing goods for export are routed through the small city in the northern Shenandoah Valley, where customs inspectors can deal with them quickly. The goods then are sent on to Hampton Roads, and the cargo doesn't have to wait in line.
The state set up the Front Royal port largely to attract export traffic heading for Baltimore's port and direct it to Hampton Roads instead.
Allen believes a Southwest Virginia version would help capture traffic now going through ports in North Carolina and South Carolina and likewise send it to Hampton Roads.
"There's concern that containers are going to ports in the Carolinas as opposed to Virginia," he said.
Allen said his administration would conduct a market study for such a dry-land port in Southwest Virginia to see if it makes economic sense. He said the project could be paid for with state transportation funds, including some earmarked for the state's ports.
Allen said he didn't know where in Southwest Virginia such a facility should go.
Griffith wants it in either the Roanoke Valley or the New River Valley.
Allen didn't disagree with that, but added: "I think you've got to find a place where it makes the most sense. I'm not suggesting this spot, but I think a logical place to begin looking at it would be, say, around Wytheville, where you have I-77 and I-81 - all that truck traffic and two major interstates that are gateways to the middle of the country."
Also Tuesday, Allen continued to spar with Democratic rival Mary Sue Terry over who's got the best plan for economic development. Allen blasted Virginia Democrats for a "static, stolid attitude" toward job creation. "We're being outhustled" by neighboring states, Allen charged. He has called for setting up regional economic councils to plot economic strategy.
But Terry said that shows how ignorant Allen is on the issue. She has proposed setting up a statewide council dominated by business leaders - "to put business leaders of the commonwealth at the helm" of plotting a statewide strategy. The state already has regional economic groups, Terry said. "What we need is state leadership, which I'll give."
After his Roanoke appearance, Allen headed to Blacksburg, where he appeared Tuesday night at a fund-raiser at Custom Catering, a business owned by Montgomery County Supervisor Larry Linkous, a former Democrat who has switched parties.
Keywords:
POLITICS
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.