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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 11, 1994                   TAG: 9403110128
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: STEVE KARK CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: NEWPORT                                LENGTH: Medium

NEWPORT SOUR ON I-73 PLAN, VDOT PROCESS

It was standing-room-only at the Newport Community Center on Thursday night, and the message to the Virginia Department of Transportation was loud and clear: We don't want Interstate 73, and we don't feel that the department has given the public enough time to respond.

Village Council Chairman Darrel Martin presided over the meeting at which highway engineer Dan Brugh answered questions about a department proposal to route an interstate highway through Giles County, following corridors that roughly follow U.S. 460.

When the approximately 150 people who crowded into the meeting were asked to vote on whether they felt the department had given them sufficient opportunity to respond to its proposal, 134 said no. The same number voted to oppose any routing for the highway that goes from Pearisburg to Newport.

Amid scattered applause, Newport resident Mike Dawson told Brugh that the department's effort to gather public input on the proposal was "really poor."

"I've worked with several federal and state agencies myself," he said, holding up a copy of the department's study, "and if we conducted studies like this there'd be hell to pay."

"This is garbage," Dawson said, tossing his copy on the table before him.

Referring to the detailed maps a Montgomery County resident recently acquired from the department, another person asked Brugh why the maps had not been available sooner.

Brugh said that the maps are misleading because they suggest that specific corridors already had been selected. "Somebody's going to look at that thing and say that's where it's going to be, when, in fact, we're still considering broad, general corridors. Not only those shown on the map."

When Brugh told the crowd that the route had been chosen for its economic potential, one woman said, "The only economic benefit we will gain is that we all will be working at these gas stations and motels that the highway will bring."

Brugh said he would provide the names and and addresses of the members of the Transportation Board - who will consider I-73 next Thursday - should anyone wish to contact them personally. Martin announced that the county supervisors would meet Tuesday and suggested that people express their concerns then.

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB