Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 29, 1993 TAG: 9309290229
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
We are the weak of bladder, the minority that somehow never gets heard.
For four years now, I have cajoled and commented publicly to the state Transportation Department about the lack of a rest area along the northbound lanes of Interstate 81.
Never have I encountered a bureaucrat cheeky enough to deny that I am right.
"Oh, no doubt about it," Fred Altizer Jr. said Tuesday. "It's a long haul."
One hundred and twenty-three miles, Ironto to Verona, between rest stops. It's a Virginia record. You will see three rest areas along the southbound lanes of the highway during that stretch - none on the northbound lanes.
So now, as the Transportation Department revises its six-year plan of road projects to be emphasized, there's a section reserved for rest areas.
And what do we find in the proposed plan?
We find $1.9 million to improve the southbound rest area at Troutville.
And $3 million to improve the northbound and southbound areas at Radford.
And $15.8 million to patch and expand rest areas in Smyth, Washington and Wythe counties.
And - and this one's the real irritant - another $8.9 million to BUILD A SOUTHBOUND REST AREA ACROSS THE HIGHWAY AT IRONTO!
This is where you've got to wonder just how hollow are the noggins of some of our trusted public servants.
Hmmm, let's see. We've got a 47-mile southbound drive from Buchanan to Radford - let's have THREE rest areas in that stretch.
And - ha! - we've got a 123-mile northbound drive from Dixie Caverns to Verona, so let's cripple the slobs moving in that direction by building nothing.
It's a Monopoly game being played by draftsmen who've either run out of medication or self-prescribed triple doses.
Altizer, who administers a vast patch of roads for the Virginia Department of Transportation in Western Virginia, sings high the praises of the rest area in accommodating tourists and providing safe harbor for sleepy truckers.
"This is an extremely important part of our mission," Altizer said . "It makes a very important statement to millions of travelers. It complements and supports tourism."
Since 1989, at least, the Transportation Department has been saying it is studying a possible northbound rest area for Natural Bridge, perhaps, or Buena Vista.
It was originally penciled in before I-81 was built; it was eventually penciled out before the highway was finished in 1971.
The promises to study probably date back to the ribbon cutting.
That song, the government mantra, never changes. We'll study that. Ommmmmm. We're studying. Ommmm.
Don't hold your breath. Just your bladder will do.
by CNB