Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 15, 1993 TAG: 9312150234
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It was not quite an endorsement of the U.S. 460/U.S. 220 corridor for the highway, but civic and governmental leaders in the Roanoke Valley, Franklin County, Henry County and other areas near Roanoke liked what they heard.
Richard Lockwood, the state's transportation planning engineer, said the 460/220 route would serve the most people and has the potential to trigger a lot of economic growth.
Lockwood said other areas, such as Floyd County and far Southwest Virginia, can argue that they are "road poor" and that they need four-lane highways so they can compete economically, but I-73 would serve the most motorists if it is routed through the Roanoke Valley.
"There is the potential for a lot of economic development, because more people would have access to it," he said.
Lockwood said the state has not selected a route, and the decision could be several months away or even longer.
Transportation officials will hold a series of public meetings in Western Virginia in the next two or three months to get residents' views.
The hearing sites will stretch from Martinsville to Abingdon and will include Roanoke.
"We want to get the feelings of citizens on the corridors and what they want," Lockwood said.
Twenty people met with Lockwood on Tuesday to lobby for the 460/220 route for the interstate, which would link Charleston, S.C., and Detroit.
The meeting was arranged by the Blue Ridge Region of Virginia, an economic development group that supports the 460/220 route.
Among those attending were Roanoke Mayor David Bowers and other city officials
There also were representatives from Job Link, a lobbying group from Franklin and Henry counties and Rockingham County, N.C., which is pushing the 460/220 corridor.
"This highway would help both us and North Carolina," Bowers said.
"This [highway] is critical to this part of Virginia," said Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke. "We are not an island. We are all in this together."
Lockwood said North Carolina officials are aware of the proposed U.S. 220 route and are willing to work with Virginia officials on it.
The states will decide the route for the highway, or Congress could choose it if the states do not, he said.
Lockwood said that another group in Lynchburg is lobbying for the highway to follow U.S. 460 to the Hill City, then turn south on the U.S. 29 corridor.
"There is a feeling in Lynchburg that they have never been given an interstate highway, and they feel they should," he said.
But Lockwood said that might be impractical, because the new road must pass through Winston-Salem, N.C., under the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.
Theoretically, the highway could run from Lynchburg to Winston-Salem, he said, but that might be too far out of the way.
Other possible corridors through Virginia include U.S. 23 in far Southwest Virginia, Interstate 77, U.S. 52 and Virginia 8.
The Alleghany Highlands region wants the road to follow the Interstate 64 corridor from West Virginia to Clifton Forge, instead of the U.S. 460 corridor through Southwest Virginia.
But this is unlikely, because West Virginia officials want the road to serve Bluefield in the southern corner of their state.
Lockwood said it might be difficult for the new road to be routed west of I-77, because North Carolina has indicated it might oppose such a location.
The Blue Ridge Region group has gathered 25 endorsements of the 460/220 route by governing bodies, chambers of commerce and state legislators in the region.
George Lester, speaking for the Job Link group, said the highway would be an economic boon for Franklin and Henry counties as well as parts of North Carolina.
Because of outdated roads, Lester said, "we have become an economic backwater area." The highway would link Roanoke with the North Carolina Triad and benefit both regions, he said.
by CNB