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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 11, 1994                   TAG: 9403110168
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CATAWBA OFF I-73 LIST, BUT RESIDENTS STILL WARY

After Tuesday's announcement of the Virginia Department of Transportation planning staff's ranking of potential routes for Interstate 73, Catawba appears to be out of the running, as residents hoped.

Still, more than 100 people jammed the community center in Catawba on Thursday night to learn more about the coming highway. The feeling was that until Congress chooses a route, "it's going to be like being in limbo," said resident Jim Martin.

The people who organized opposition to Catawba's being listed as a possible I-73 corridor now want to look at securing historic district status for the Catawba Valley. They see that designation as protection for the next time someone wants to put a highway or a landfill or a prison in their neighborhood.

"We've been down here so many times over the last five years," organizer Sharon Kennedy told the crowd. Being named a historic district is "very, very important for this entire section."

John Kern of the Roanoke Regional Preservation Office briefly explained what the designation means and said his office would be interested in exploring eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Catawba Valley has the oldest known European settlement in Roanoke County. With a designation by the National Register, the state would have to investigate the historic significance of areas it wants to take through eminent domain. Catawba residents see that as an obstacle they could throw up to protect their valley's from being looked at for something they don't want.

"Planners and engineers . . . look at the valley," Kennedy said, "and they see open land."