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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 18, 1994                   TAG: 9405180097
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER NOTE: above
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PANEL OKS $8 MILLION TO STUDY I-66 ROUTE

The Public Works and Transportation Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives approved up to $8 million Tuesday to study a Virginia route for Interstate 66, a proposed cross-country transportation corridor.

Money for the study was included at the request of Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, in National Highway System legislation being worked on by the committee.

Goodlatte's proposal would bring the route into Virginia from Beckley, W.Va., near Covington, from where it would proceed to Roanoke, Lynchburg and the Atlantic coast.

I-66, also known as the TransAmerica Transportation Corridor, is not to be confused with Interstate 66 in Northern Virginia, which links Interstate 81 with Washington, D.C.

The proposed I-66 would run from Norfolk to Los Angeles. It might wind up being a traditional interstate highway, but the states through which it would pass are studying other options. It could incorporate high-speed rail transportation, magnetic levitation vehicles or a highway with "smart road" technology on which vehicles could travel at speeds up to 150 mph.

It also might involve more than one type of transportation, Goodlatte said.

In any case, the new east-west route would not be completed until well into the next century, according to most estimates.

The money the committee approved for the I-66 study is similar to the $5 million approved by a subcommittee a week ago for a study of a proposed Interstate 83, linking I-81 in Virginia and Interstate 40 in North Carolina. The money would come from the federal Highway Trust Fund, which is financed with federal fuel taxes. The money would become available without further congressional action once the National Highway System legislation becomes law.

Goodlatte said he worked with Republican members of the committee and Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., to get the money included in the legislation. Goodlatte is not a committee member.

Goodlatte said it is important to get in early on a new project like I-66 and said this is an effort to make sure Roanoke and Lynchburg are included in its planning. Lynchburg, he noted, is one of the largest cities in the country without an interstate highway. "It clearly needs and deserves a modern transportation link," he said.

He would work in the years ahead to build support for the route he has proposed, Goodlatte said.

Also Tuesday, the committee made no changes in action taken by the subcommittee last week to provide funding for the I-83 study. That link between I-81 at Roanoke and I-40 in North Carolina's Piedmont Triad has been sought by Virginia and North Carolina businesses as a high-priority economic development project.

The National Highway System legislation now goes to the floor of the House for a vote. That could come as early as next week and, if not then, some time early this summer. The Senate would then have until next Oct. 1 to pass its version of the legislation.