Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 15, 1994 TAG: 9401150242
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The catch is that the federal law establishing the highway's route in West Virginia may have already made much of the debate a moot point.
Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, plans to introduce a resolution calling on the General Assembly to consider as a package the routes of proposed I-73 and a planned new East Coast-to-West Coast superhighway.
Cranwell's resolution would call for the legislature to back a route for I-73 that would connect with I-64 in Alleghany County and then follow U.S. 220 from Clifton Forge through Roanoke to the North Carolina line south of Martinsville, according to Jim Echols, Cranwell's aide.
In the same resolution, Cranwell will ask the legislature to back a route for the proposed TransAmerica Highway, a super roadway or railway that would link the ports of Hampton Roads and Los Angeles.
In Cranwell's resolution, the TransAmerican Highway - also known as Interstate 66 (but not to be confused with Northern Virginia's I-66) - would enter Virginia near Bluefield and follow U.S. 460 to Blacksburg. There it would incorporate the route and plans of the proposed "smart road" to Interstate 81, then follow I-81 to Roanoke and the current route of U.S. 460 from Roanoke to Norfolk.
Cranwell's resolution is based on a proposal being floated by Frank Longaker, president of National Business College in Roanoke.
Planning for the two road projects as a unified concept would promote cooperation among various localities now seeking I-73, Longaker said. A unified front would give the state more influence with federal officials compared with surrounding states when the final route for the interstate is chosen, he said.
Longaker said he has talked with legislators and business leaders about the proposal and he's distributed a packet of materials describing it to chambers of commerce and others in the region.
Over the past few months, scores of local governments, regional planning groups and business organizations have petitioned the state Department of Transportation to choose a route for I-73 through their various communities. The contestants include Wise and Scott counties on the west to Lynchburg in the east. Seven different routes through Western Virginia have been discussed.
But some of those routes for I-73, including the one being proposed by Longaker and Cranwell, seem to have already been ruled out by federal highway legislation. And they face a powerful opponent in Congress.
I-73 is one of several roads that have been proposed to fill gaps in the federal interstate highway system. The road will run from Detroit to Charleston, S.C.
Politicians and business people in some of the states through which I-73 will pass seem to have gotten the jump on those in Virginia. An Interstate 73 Association has been formed and is based in Bluefield, W.Va.
The 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act established the route for I-73 through West Virginia along the current route of U.S. 52 from Huntington to Bluefield. It also set aside nearly $120 million for the initial planning for the road along that route and thousands more have since been appropriated for that purpose, according to Jim Zoia, an aide to Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va.
Rahall is a supporter of the U.S. 52 route for I-73, but more importantly he is chairman of the powerful Surface Transportation Subcommittee of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee.
"Mr. Rahall put it in federal law and he is not about to change it," Zoia said of the U.S. 52 route for I-73. "It's firmly established in federal law."
Feasibility and environmental impact studies for the interstate on that route are already under way, he said.
But Longaker wonders if the route still cannot be changed. Virginians and their congressional delegation working together might make a difference, he said.
The state Department of Transportation has scheduled informational meetings on proposed I-73 for Feb. 1-3 in Collinsville, Blacksburg and Roanoke. Meetings are also planned in Abingdon on Jan. 26 and Wytheville on Jan. 27.
Longaker said he plans to attend the meetings in the Roanoke area. But he said he does not want to lead the push for his proposal before state government. He's hoping some other group or individual will step forward to do that.
Longaker was an unsuccessful candidate in 1991 for the state Senate seat now held by Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle. Longaker said he has no future political plans.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB