Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 14, 1994 TAG: 9404140338
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Martinez, who was attending a public hearing in Salem on the allocation of highway construction funds, was asked his reaction to West Virginia's plans to build its portion of I-73 to less than interstate standards.
Besides drawing much comment on the proposed Detroit-to-Charleston, S.C., I-73, the annual hearing for the 12-county Salem Highway District brought out supporters for the addition of two or four lanes to Interstate 81 and the improvement of both routes U.S. 220 and U.S. 221 south of Roanoke.
State legislators, officials of local government and private citizens jammed a tiny auditorium for a hearing that began at 9 a.m. and continued well past noon.
During a break, Martinez said the resolution passed by the Commonwealth Transportation Board in March in support of a U.S. 460/"smart road"/U.S. 220 route for I-73 did not mention what type of road it would be because the issue hasn't been settled. The resolution referred to the road as an interstate because that's the designation it was given in the 1991 federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, he said.
Martinez said he expected the state to get some money for building I-73 in the legislation currently before Congress that will establish a National Highway System. Roads included in that system will be eligible for 80 percent federal funding. In reaction to the suggestion by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, that the road ought to be built along Virginia 100 in Carroll, Pulaski and Giles counties, Martinez said the state still would be left with the expense of improving 460 and 220 if that or another I-73 route were picked by Congress.
Many speakers urged the state to move ahead with its I-73 plans, but the road had its opponents, too.
Tammy Belinsky, who owns a farm on Bent Mountain in Floyd County near a possible I-73 route, questioned the economic benefits the road's supporters say it would bring and said the public should have been involved more before the state decided on which of seven Southwest Virginia corridors to follow. The town of Blacksburg also expressed its opposition to the 460/220 route for I-73 in a resolution to the Transportation Board.
Supporters of I-73 included representatives of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and of Job Link, a group of Virginia and North Carolina business people seeking an interstate-quality upgrade of U.S. 220 between Roanoke and North Carolina's Piedmont Triad. They said the road is needed to make companies in Franklin and Henry counties more competitive.
Bill Brammer of Job Link, executive vice president of Bassett Furniture Industries in Henry County, said the county has lost industrial prospects because it lacks an interstate highway. Brammer said his own company ships 6,700 truckloads of furniture south and 4,600 loads north from Martinsville on U.S. 220 each year.
Brammer and others said 220 is unsafe in its present condition. Abe Essig, president of Ronile Inc. of Rocky Mount, a maker of pre-dyed yarns for the carpet industry, said the unsafe condition of 220 hurts his ability to find new employees.
Some speakers spoke of the need to add additional lanes to the portion of U.S. 220 in Roanoke called the Roy L. Webber Highway to improve the road's safety. Del. Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke, pointed out that there have been 270 accidents and eight fatalities on that section of 220 in the past three years.
Others spoke of the enormous residential growth along U.S. 221 south of Virginia 419 in Roanoke County and the need to improve the two-lane road. Some suggested that four-laning should be completed to Hillsville in Carroll County.
Gordon Saul of the Back Creek Civic League in Roanoke County said residents of his community have a 38 percent greater chance of being in a traffic accident than other Virginians. Real estate developer Len Boone said an additional 1,000 new homes could be built along 221 in the next few years, joining six major subdivisions already in place between Bent Mountain and Roanoke.
by CNB