Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 15, 1994 TAG: 9404150077
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The planners were taking their first stab at a study of the proposed route through Montgomery County for the planned Detroit-to-Charleston, S.C., highway.
Planning Director Joe Powers and his staff will use the dozens of thoughts and questions from the commission to write an outline that will guide a study that will eventually go to the Board of Supervisors.
The seven commissioners put down their own ideas and invited participation from a Virginia Tech student who's writing a term paper on the highway and Robin Boucher, who attended on behalf of the Informed Citizens Action Network, the grass-roots group that's sprung up in opposition to the proposed highway.
Though uncertain if I-73 will be built to interstate standards or to a lesser standard applied by the Appalachian Regional Commission, the commissioners assembled a wide-ranging list.
Among the negatives:
An increase in the indigent population. Boucher said her organization is studying the link between this issue and having two interstates pass through an area. Their preliminary findings indicate that Wytheville has seen an increased burden on social services and mental health services because of the numbers of transients who pass through.
Using up scarce land for the highway instead of new development. Concurrently, dividing productive farm land.
The link with the Roanoke area could open Montgomery to more bedroom-community development and, in turn, put even more of a burden on county services while providing insufficient new tax revenue.
Some of the positives, aside from possibly increasing the number of jobs and businesses in the county, include:
It could be built as a model environmental highway, sort of a Blue Ridge Parkway for the 21st century, but with scenic easements and overlooks that anticipate some of the problems that have beset its predecessor.
It could help athletics at Virginia Tech by making the coliseum and football stadium more easily accessible. "If they had a better team it would help, too," one member cracked.
It could open more areas for recreation, such as another public boat landing on the New River.
The Planning Commission will take its next steps on the study in May.
State Sen. Madison Marye, meanwhile, on Thursday backed U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher's call last week for an I-73 corridor through Southwest Virginia that avoids Montgomery County and U.S. 220.
Boucher supported a four-lane noninterstate-standard highway following Virginia 100 from Pearisburg south to Hillsville, where it would link up with the existing Interstate 77.
Speaking at a Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Dublin, Marye said 90 percent of his mail has been against the I-73 route endorsed last month by the state Transportation Board.
"They're mad as hornets in Montgomery County," he said. "Every county that I represent, except the folks in Montgomery County, really wanted" I-73 passing through for economic development reasons.
Marye said he also would favor a corridor passing through Grayson, Smyth and Tazewell counties, if the people there wanted it.
Still, with the state Transportation Board favoring a U.S. 460/"smart road"/U.S. 220 route from West Virginia to North Carolina, there may be no way to change the route. "Once the highway commission has made a decision it's just about Katie-bar-the-door," he said.
by CNB