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

DATE: THURSDAY, May 5, 1994                   TAG: 9405060014
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MARY BETH SISCO
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TOURISTS WILL KEEP PASSING BY

I LIVE on Bent Mountain in Floyd County. I'm opposed to the portion of Interstate 73 that's proposed to run between Alleghany Springs in Montgomery County and Rocky Mount in Franklin County. It makes no sense for it to come down the eastern continental divide at Blacksburg and then back up again at Alleghany Springs. I don't see how this route will help Roanoke city or Roanoke County at all. It doesn't even pass through the city and only briefly through a remote section of the county. If there's an interchange at U.S. 221, it'll make it easier for us to get to Christiansburg or Rocky Mount, not to Roanoke, and easier for tourists traveling north along the Blue Ridge Parkway from North Carolina to bypass Roanoke.

More than 125 years ago, Elliston was founded as the ``Pittsburgh of the South.'' There was water, rail and natural resources galore to presumably support an industrial city. It never happened. The geography's still the same. There isn't enough developable flat land in that portion of Montgomery County to support much industry, and markets are still far away. The proposed route in that section of the county will take away the little bit of developable flat land left.

A proposed dam in Alleghany Springs was defeated 20 years ago due to its impact on endangered species. The Nature Conservancy now owns Bottom Creek Gorge, which feeds into the south fork of the Roanoke River at Alleghany Springs. The gorge is a unique habitat that the interstate will destroy.

The Nature Conservancy also recently donated Twin Falls in Floyd County to the county's government. This very unusual area could be adversely impacted by the interstate, as well.

It makes more sense for the ``smart road'' portion of I-73 to connect to I-81 at Christiansburg Mountain, and then for I-73 to follow along I-81 to the Dixie Caverns area. Here, it could run southeast along the northern edge of Lost and Poor mountains (if Spring Hollow Reservoir isn't in the way) and pass through Salem and Roanoke County to join U.S. 220 south of Tanglewood.

This would not only give the Roanoke Valley a beltway but an actual through-road interstate, not just a dead-end spur like I-581 is today. The traffic Roanoke seems to want would actually pass through Roanoke, not around it!

Mary Beth Sisco of Bent Mountain is a regional health planner.

by CNB