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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 12, 1994                   TAG: 9411160012
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THE WELLSPRING OF TECH RESEARCH

IMAGINE: Southwest Virginia with an inside track on a worldwide high-tech industry boasting a growth potential in the scores of billions of dollars annually. Research dollars, perhaps as much as $200 million or $300 million, flowing into the region over the next two decades. The New River and Roanoke valleys becoming the mother lode for hundreds, even thousands, of new well-paying jobs.

Fat chance? Maybe not. But with Virginia Tech's inclusion in a consortium that's just won a $150 million federal grant to develop so-called smart highways, the chance is now appreciably better than slim to none.

For the immediate future, the grant for the consortium headed by General Motors appears to ensure construction of the first two-mile, two-lane stage of a proposed six-mile smart road linking Blacksburg to Interstate 81 west of Roanoke. Gov. George Allen had promised $10 million in state funds for the initial stage of the road, contingent on a successful bid for the federal grant.

The two-mile segment will become Tech's research laboratory for advanced transportation technology, with the aim of moving cars and trucks more efficiently and safely.

How much of the $150 million grant will actually come to Tech is, at this point, uncertain. The university, already heavily involved in high-tech transportation research, hopes to get between $15 million and $20 million. But whatever the figure, Tech's participation in the consortium should enhance its reputation in this growing field. And with a higher profile, the possibilities for spin-off economic development are considerable.

Completion of the smart road could be a wellspring, for instance, for entrepreneurs, engineering firms and suppliers of goods and services associated with prototype smart cars and highway technology that might flow from Tech's research - new business ventures that would attract research investments of their own.

Meanwhile, the road itself would provide a needed infrastructure improvement, not only serving motorists but also bringing closer together the Roanoke and New River valleys and a city and university that need each other.

The $10 million promised by Allen for the first phase of the smart road does not, unfortunately, ensure full funding - estimated at about $85 million. But Allen's commitment, coupled with the prestigious boost of the consortium grant, makes it increasingly likely that the money can be raised from federal, state and private sources, and that the smart road - eight years now in the talking stages - will eventually become a reality.

That's a prospect worth celebrating despite the criticisms of environmentalists, no-growthers and property owners in the Ellett Valley, through which the road would be built. The opposition of a few should not be allowed to block an initiative with such potential for the entire region.

The good news about the federal grant underscores Tech's importance to the region's prospects. In the future, research and technology will be the engines of the economy, and it will be driven in many cases by public-private partnerships. Economic development will center increasingly on regional clusters of industries, with entrepreneurs choosing to set up shop near those sharing common interests.

In such a future, people in this region may well look back on Tech's participation in the GM consortium as a major milestone.

by CNB