Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 11, 1994 TAG: 9403120006
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MICHAEL N. HAYES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Yet, it has the unmistakable mark of the commonwealth's way of making decisions. Those making the key choices have waited until what appears to be the last minute. From what I can see, this procrastination has worked pretty well for the state. However, as people approach the time of decision, I would like to offer some basic points about interstates, especially those in Virginia. I hope this information can improve the basis for the discussion.
First, an interstate is better than a state road and beats outright no road at all. My department's research into the economic status of Southwest Virginia shows that the existence of an interstate, such as I-77 or I-81, in a county matches up with a significantly better job picture than counties without one. This is in terms of the number of jobs and their pay, or income. Better income translates into a wider selection of commercial opportunities.
Second, more interstates are not necessarily better. Construction of new interstates generates increased employment for a while, but the effects are not long-lasting if the interstates, in conjunction with major state routes, are too close together. There is such a thing as overbuilding, especially if new construction comes at the expense of maintaining the quality of existing roads.
Third, poorly maintained or "overused" interstates reduce the productivity of labor and are not better than good state routes. Anyone who has traveled the "single lanes" of I-80 in Pennsylvania (due to lane closures for "construction"), knows about increased travel time and inconvenience. While truck and auto repair business represents a dollar spent just like any other business, there are the costs of time and mental anguish of having to wait - either in a shop or by the roadside.
Fourth, following up on the third point, there is no such thing as a "free lunch." The lion's share of the state Department of Transportation's budget is allocated to maintenance of existing roads. A diversion of funds from maintenance to new construction will increase the hidden costs of travel for both the truck and the car. Deferred maintenance will raise the cost of consumer goods shipped by truck as well as auto maintenance bills for all of us. This assumes no increase in taxes for the new construction.
If we put these general points together with information specific to our region, we get a clear picture of hard choices. Using best estimates provided by Joe Orcutt, head of planning at the Virginia Department of Transportation, we can establish that the cost of building a four-lane, divided roadway through mountainous terrain is $8 million per mile, give or take a million. Add another 15-20 percent for the purchase of right of way; that is, payment of fair market value for private property taken for the road. I suspect this number is for largely nonresidential property like farm- and rangeland. This number also utilizes cutting away the terrain as opposed to digging tunnels.
The cost of reconstructing roadway with a concrete bed, such as the stretch of I-81 above Troutville, is almost the same as new construction, roughly $5 million. The concrete of that stretch of road is more than 25 years old and would require replacement in order to improve the driveability. Other stretches require 6-7 inches of asphalt, especially after a series of harsh winters and/or heavy truck use. Bridge replacement, a hot topic nationwide, costs $50 a square foot. A bridge for a two-lane roadway (40 feet wide) would typically run $4 million, each. The cost of adding another lane to existing highway runs about $6 million per mile.
My impression is that people in this area are concerned not about a new interstate but the quality of I-81. We have one of the worst aspects of urban sprawl, traffic congestion. Anyone who has traveled between Christiansburg and Roanoke behind a truck passing another truck knows how quickly the cars back up. It seems at times almost as bad as Radford's Norwood Street at 5 p.m. The chances of an accident increase significantly.
Orcutt says current truck use of I-81 (about 31 percent) converts into the need for four lanes of highway each way to eliminate congestion. Wouldn't the great majority of us be thrilled to have just three lanes each way for the entire stretch? After the Christiansburg-Roanoke problem comes the Troutville-north route, which continues to claim many an alignment. We also have a number of bridges that will command attention shortly.
Considerable emphasis is placed on Sen. Robert Byrd and Rep. Nick Rahall securing $115 million in federal funds for this I-73 project. We must keep in mind that this amounts to a little more than 14 miles of roadway in West Virginia, assuming none of it goes to planning. In Virginia, no money is available for such a project, just as no money is available presently for the more needed reconstruction projects mentioned above. If the VDOT money stays close to its present levels, we might have to choose among a number of high-priority projects, of which I-73 is only one.
It is important that everyone concerned with this issue understand that for all the benefits that might be expected of a new interstate, there will be costs. The trick is to make sure that the costs never come close to the level of those expected benefits.
Michael N. Hayes is an associate professor of economics at Radford University.
by CNB