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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 27, 1994                   TAG: 9403280137
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Elizabeth Obenshain
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

I-73 MAY COME, BUT IT'LL BE A WAYS OFF

The first skirmish in the Interstate 73 operation has ended, but the major strategy for this multimillion highway is still ahead.

We won't see this highway in this century.

And its final route won't be known for sure until Congress gives its approval.

But it is looking more likely that this interstate will happen and that it will happen in our back yard.

Congress, of course, could object to the dogleg Virginia has engineered in the interstate route to bring it through the New River and Roanoke valleys.

But chances are that it won't unless North Carolina's congressional delegation kicks up a real fuss. West Virginia Rep. Nick Joe Rahall, chairman of the House Surface Transportation Subcommittee, said Congress will not dictate routes within states unless states cannot resolve border crossing disputes.

West Virginia has already given its OK to the proposed U.S. 460/smart road/U.S. 220 route approved by the Commonwealth Transporation Board.

So, the road is probably coming.

The question now may be whether we can control this monster engine that will roar through our area. Can we shape the tremendous economic energy that will pour up and down that highway every day?

The one fact probably both sides in this I-73 debate agree on is that we don't want the economic impact of this interstate to be a string of gas stations and fast-food joints with the only new jobs being minimum wage.

We've got lots of time before this interstate is anything more than a line on a map. We could use that time to plan so this interstate will damage the area's natural beauty as little as possible and create long-term economic growth consistent with our region's vision of itself as high-tech and education-oriented.

We can also envision what could happen if there is no foresight.

The interchanges could become a mile-long stretch of neon signs and blacktop - making our valley's communities interchangeable with a thousand identical interstate crossroads across America.

Is it possible that with planning we might figure out how to provide the essential, and profitable, services to interstate travelers without destroying ourselves as unique communities?

We could also talk about protecting significant scenic areas, such as the stretches along the New River. We could plan how to enhance and carefully develop other areas near the interstate in a way that might attract the sort of high-quality, high-paying jobs our area wants.

We also need to consider impact on existing neighborhoods. The Commonwealth Transportation Board and the highway engineers need to take seriously board member Lorinda Lionberger's words when she said opponents of specific routes should be heard as planning for the interstate continues.

A resource for planning this road could be a group such as the National Committee for the New River, which is already studying how to preserve the New River's course through Giles County. That river corridor also would be the path for I-73 under the state-approved route.

The citizens group that has developed around a core of opponents in the Mount Tabor area has already shown the muscle that a neighborhood group can develop in a short time. It's incredibly hard, in our frantic lives, to continue that intensity of interest and effort over the long haul of a multiyear planning process for a project like an interstate highway.

But if they can, and if public officials, government planners and community members will also confront the complex and often conflicting pressures that surround a project of this size maybe we can shape this force rather than having it dictate our future to us.

Elizabeth Obenshain is the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River editor.