Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 8, 1994 TAG: 9410100060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Backers of a proposed "smart road" linking Blacksburg to Interstate 81 west of Roanoke figure that means it's time for Gov. George Allen to ante up.
In February, Allen wrote a letter to General Motors CEO Jack Smith saying that the first two miles of the six-mile link would be built if the consortium won the contract.
Now that it has, Antoine Hobeika, director of Tech's Center for Transportation Research, said he expects the state to move forward with construction of the road.
"I hope they keep their promise," he said. "We're leaving it up to [the state] to figure out" how to pay for it.
The planning, engineering and construction of the first two miles of a two-lane road are estimated to cost just over $11million.
David Gehr, Virginia's commissioner of transportation, said the state plans to hold up its end of the deal, but he isn't sure how the road will be funded.
"We're moving ahead," he said. "As we move forward in the program, we'll use whatever funding we have available."
Bulldozers won't start moving dirt until late 1996 at the earliest.
Gehr said the state plans to begin buying land in the road's right of way next summer, a process that will take at least a year.
That two-mile portion of the road would be used as a test bed for the consortium as it develops a highway system that would allow cars to have functions such as steering and braking controlled by special sensors and computers.
"There is a very big role for us," Hobeika said. "This is a big thing for Southwest Virginia."
Hobeika said he didn't know how much of the $150million would be funneled through Tech. The school submitted a $20million proposal to General Motors this year.
Most of Tech's money would be used for research and design work, he said.
U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, who announced the federal grant Friday, praised the Center for Transportation Research.
"Today's announcement demonstrates to the world what Southwest Virginia has known for quite some time," he said. "Virginia Tech is rapidly becoming one of the nation's premier research universities in the field of advanced transportation technology."
Last year, Tech was named one of the nation's three Research Centers of Excellence in Intelligent Vehicle/Highway Systems, along with the University of Michigan and Texas A&M.
Guidelines for the federal project required a state transportation agency, automaker, highway design company and vehicle electronics company to be involved in any consortium that applied for the funds.
Delco Electronics, Carnegie-Mellon University, Bechtel Corp., Hughes Aircraft and Martin Marietta are included in the General Motors consortium along with Tech.
Hobeika said General Motors' biggest competition for the project came from a consortium that included TRW Inc., one of the country's largest automotive suppliers.
Gehr said the next step is for General Motors and other members of the group to figure out how the grant will be spent. Gehr said Friday that he hadn't talked with the automaker yet.
"I'm anxiously awaiting to hear from them," he said. "I think this is a real big deal. It puts Virginia on the leading edge of that technology."
Hobeika and Boucher agree that Virginia probably was included in the consortium because the smart road project was in the works.
The entire two-lane road from Blacksburg to I-81 is estimated to cost about $50million.
The road-which would speed travel between Roanoke and Virginia Tech-has been controversial since it was proposed by former Roanoke Mayor Noel Taylor in 1986. Then-Roanoke County Supervisor Dick Robers was the first to suggest the road be used to test Intelligent Vehicle/Highway Systems technology.
Foes say the road is an unwanted, unneeded project that will destroy the pristine environment in the Ellett Valley.
Some planning and engineering for the road has been completed, but no money has been allocated to build it.
Hobeika said Tech's inclusion in a high-profile project with General Motors will have a long-term positive impact on the region's economy.
"It will show that there are more than just cows here," he said. "It gives us a high-tech image."
All along, state officials have maintained that the smart road would not compete for state money with other local road projects, such as the proposed bypass from Christiansburg to Blacksburg. Instead, they said money for the project would come from nontraditional sources such as federal grants or a state bond issue-funds harder to come by.
But in February, Secretary of Transportation Robert Martinez said the first two miles that Allen promised to build as part of the consortium might be funded out of the state's general construction funds.
He emphasized that the state hadn't committed to funding the entire six-mile road from the general funds.
by CNB