Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994 TAG: 9403130061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If the state decides that it wants Interstate 73 to run where the "smart road" is supposed to go, that's fine; can't hurt, Virginia Tech believes.
"The `smart road' would be a very natural fit for it," said Antoine Hobeika, director of Tech's Center for Transportation Research, which wants the "smart road" built.
Although Gov. George Allen has offered to build two miles of the "smart road" if the federal government awards $145 million for "smart car" research to a consortium that includes General Motors, the state and Tech, the answer to how the entire project will be funded remains elusive.
The project never has been considered part of the national highway system, and therefore not for its funding sources, Hobeika said. "Now it could be."
If the federal government decides it wants to run the Detroit-to-Charleston, S.C., interstate along the "smart road" path, that could open up the possibility of 80 percent-20 percent federal-state matching funds being used for "smart road" construction.
Because the timetables of the two projects are so disparate, it's unclear if consideration on one would affect the other.
"We hope that the `smart road' will be up and operational long before they break ground for the interstate," said Tech spokesman David Nutter.
Regardless of any economic development potential either road holds, Hobeika said, the future of highways will have to incorporate "smart" technology that uses computers and sensors to make travel safer.
If the powers-that-be want to build an interstate that uses such technology, then why not start building that kind of road here, he asked.
"Future highways need to be intelligent," Hobeika said. "I-73 has to have some intelligence in it."
Some opponents and local elected officials would agree, although the use of "intelligence" may take on different meanings.
In recent weeks, the I-73 issue has caused considerable debate inside the halls of town council and county supervisors' meetings from Giles to Roanoke and in between.
When Virginia Department of Transportation Resident Engineer Dan Brugh briefed Blacksburg's Town Council on the department's report Tuesday, it sent up red flags with council members.
"I sense that the majority of council does not want I-73 in our back yard," Councilman Lewis Barnett said that night.
Blacksburg Town Attorney Richard Kaufmann was to have worked with council members over the weekend to draft a resolution that addresses the issue more specifically than a January resolution asking that a Montgomery County route be considered.
Kaufmann said he did not yet know what the resolution would say but that it would be prepared in time for a Tuesday meeting.
"I'm very concerned about the interchange at the `smart road' [linking with South Main Street at the south end of town] and what kind of impact that would have," Councilwoman Frances Parsons said Friday.
Transportation department officials continue to stress that the corridors being considered are broad areas, and that actual routes are far from determined.
Despite calls at the Tuesday meeting asking council to rescind its earlier resolution completely, Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth said, "If we simply wash our hands of the whole thing, and take ourselves out of the loop, then the citizens no longer have a spokesman."
"If the poor old direct link [council members' preferred term for the `smart road'] gets swallowed up by the bigger picture, then we'll have to deal with that," Hedgepeth said later in the week.
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote Monday on a resolution that would oppose routing the interstate through Catawba Valley - but does not address the "smart road" routing possibility.
At that meeting, citizens are expected to present a petition with at least 600 signatures opposing the routing of I-73 through Montgomery County in any way.
For his part, Hobeika said he doesn't want to be a part of the local political maneuvering around the I-73 issue and how it relates to the "smart road."
He's not necessarily a proponent of I-73's coming through Montgomery County, even though it might help his own project, he said.
"This is a political issue," Hobeika said. "It has to be debated\ publicly."
by CNB