Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994 TAG: 9407200031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITE|
DATELINE: TOLEDO, OHIO LENGTH: Medium
Except Virginia.
Although organizers insist they invited him, state Secretary of Transportation Robert Martinez said he knew nothing about the meeting.
And everyone who was there opposed Virginia's proposed I-73 route, which would run near Blacksburg along the U.S. 460 corridor, head down the "smart road" linking Blacksburg to Interstate 81, and connect with U.S. 220 going to Martinsville.
K.A. Ammar Jr., a Bluefield, W.Va., businessman who spearheaded the I-73 concept, said Virginia should forget about having the road run through Roanoke.
``They need to get off this cause. They're just screwing it up,'' he said between sessions Tuesday. ``It's not practical.''
Officials from both West Virginia and North Carolina have said they prefer a route for I-73 that would follow the Interstate 77 corridor by Wytheville to Winston-Salem, N.C.
``Obviously, the shortest route between any two points is a straight line,'' said Nelson Walker, executive director of the I-73 Corridor Association.
(Of course, Walker said, it should be no surprise that his group doesn't support a route going through Roanoke because one of its five chapters is based in Wytheville.
``They paid this group $4,500 to push for a route through Wytheville. So that's what we're doing,'' he said.)
Instead of worrying about I-73, Ammar said, Virginia should concentrate its efforts on proposed Interstate 83, which would run down the 220 corridor from Roanoke to Martinsville and into North Carolina.
The House of Representatives passed National Highway System legislation in May that included I-73 routes for all the states involved except Virginia.
The reason for that, one House committee staff member said, was because Virginia's route was submitted late and didn't match up with either North Carolina's or West Virginia's routes.
Martinez said Virginia and North Carolina highway officials will get together soon to talk about I-73.
The House bill did include planning funds for I-83. Martinez said he's confident Congress will eventually decide to run I-73 through Roanoke and along the same route as I-83.
Virginia might have another problem with its proposed I-73 route: The head of the senate committee working to develop the National Highway System doesn't want any demonstration projects included.
Deborah DeYoung, a spokeswoman for the public works committee headed by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said the senator wants the highway system to include only high-priority roads, and that there isn't enough money for experimental projects.
The five-mile "smart road" from Blacksburg to I-81, which is supposed to include electronic sensors and other technology aimed at speeding travel and improving safety, would seemingly fall into that category.
But Martinez said that won't affect Virginia's chances of routing I-73 on the smart road.
``It's irrelevant,'' he said from his office in Richmond.
``Gov. Allen's administration agrees that federal money shouldn't be allocated to specific state demonstration projects."
Instead, he said the federal government should give the money to the states and let them allocate it.
Martinez said he is sure that the smart road can still be included in Virginia's I-73 route.
On his side is Sen. John Warner, R-Va., also a member of the public works committee and a supporter of the route through Roanoke.
The Senate has until September 1995 to complete work on the highway system bill, but DeYoung said the body could vote by the end of this September.
One public hearing was held last month in Montana, and a second will probably be held in Washington in July.
DeYoung couldn't say for sure if the bill will include I-73, but the folks in Toledo certainly think it will.
Ray Cadwallader, chairman of Ohio's I-73 group, said a federal highway administration official told him that the interstate from Detroit to
by CNB