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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 20, 1994                   TAG: 9407200083
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium

FORUM TACKLES RURAL ROADS

That's a central idea behind a new strategic transportation plan being developed for Virginia under orders from state Secretary of Transportation Robert Martinez. Most of the key assumptions guiding the planning are related to transportation's role in the state's economy.

The second of five public forums to generate ideas for the plan was held Tuesday at Wytheville. Others are being held in Fairfax, Lynchburg, Norfolk and Richmond.

Most of about 40 people at the Wytheville meeting were local government officials. They wanted to talk about problems in trucking Christmas trees out of Grayson and Floyd counties and paving unpaved rural roads rather than about building Interstate 73 and rebuilding U.S. 58.

Among the other issues raised were the growing congestion from truck traffic on Interstate 81; the need for better train-and-truck and plane-and-truck connections in Southwest Virginia; and the difficulty of funding primary and secondary road projects in rural counties.

"We're trying to get ourselves to see if we can do [planning] better," Deputy Secretary of Transportation Shirley Ybarra said. The Allen administration leadership is not criticizing the existing planning structure in the Virginia Department of Transportation, she said. "We've got a great base."

But the department wants to focus on the things that are important to Gov. George Allen, Ybarra said. Allen has made economic development a priority.

The plan will provide a way for the department to judge whether or not it's looking at the right projects, she said. The plan will emphasize the use of all modes of transportation in moving freight and people around the state.

Martinez has laid out seven key principles for development of such a comprehensive "intermodal" system. At the top of the list is recognition that a high-quality transportation system is critical to the effort to lure and keep major employers in Virginia.

Martinez also thinks transportation investment must be based on market needs, and new ways to pay for transportation projects should be considered, including privatization efforts such as the toll road in Northern Virginia leading to Washington Dulles International Airport. "We need to find the framework that will let the private sector join us," Ybarra said.

Martinez is against any increase in the state fuel tax to pay for new transportation projects, Ybarra said. A group of Virginia business leaders has been pushing for an increase in the tax to pay for a long list of what it says are unmet needs. One participant at Tuesday's meeting said an increase in the tax is the only way to pay for improvements to roads that are needed in Southwest Virginia.

The final report on the plan is due in September and will include recommended actions by the governor and General Assembly.