Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 11, 1994 TAG: 9401110184
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors joined a host of other county governments and business groups that want to see the highway come through their turf. Congress called for the creation of the highway as part of a 1991 transportation bill but has not provided money for the project.
Whether I-73 ever will be built - and the expected economic development bonanza materializes - remains unclear.
What is clear is that since early in the fall, localities across Southwest Virginia have been putting in their bids to get a piece of the highway pie.
The Montgomery supervisors are following in the footsteps of their own Economic Development Commission, which passed a similar resolution late last year. The county Planning Commission, however, in December urged the board to wait for more information before taking a stand.
Several proposed routes under discussion by state highway planners would affect the New River and Roanoke valleys; others take a more southerly route that would pass through Tazewell or Wythe counties.
The Virginia Department of Transportation will hold five public meetings on the proposed routes beginning in two weeks. The only meeting in the New River Valley will be from 4 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 at the Blacksburg Holiday Inn.
There will be another meeting the next day at the Airport Holiday Inn in Roanoke.
The board passed the resolution after Supervisor Henry Jablonski added a line noting that Montgomery offers "one of the shortest routes" from West Virginia to North Carolina.
Supervisor Joe Gorman noted that distance doesn't always rule where a highway will go. "I think it's going to be a political football when the time comes," he said.
In other business, the board selected its first new chairman and vice chairman in two years. With Supervisor Jim Moore absent because of illness, the board elected Larry Linkous of Blacksburg to a one-year term as chairman. It also elected Christiansburg's Nick Rush to serve as vice chairman. Supervisor Joe Stewart nominated himself for another year in the post, but failed to win any support.
Supervisor Ira Long of Prices Fork had been the chairman since 1992.
The board also gave its blessing to New River Community Sentencing's request for tax-exempt status from the General Assembly. The private, nonprofit corporation is seeking the tax status as it plans to build a $200,000 headquarters on the western edge of Christiansburg. It needed Montgomery's OK before its request could move forward.
The group, which obtains most of its annual budget from the state, provides several services for the court system in the New River Valley, such as arranging unpaid community service work when a judge imposes that as a sentence.
by CNB