Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 20, 1994 TAG: 9410200063
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: 1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Planners heard Wednesday that a new site of American Indian artifacts - the fifth thus far - has been identified along the trail route.
A state archeologist who found the site says the discovery probably won't cause more red tape for the trail, but his examination of that site and the others will continue.
Also, it now seems certain that the new trail must pass below a Virginia Tech farm road through an underpass, an unanticipated expense that may cost $20,000 to $70,000.
Original plans called for the trail to cross the road, located northeast of the U.S. 460 bypass, with a simple cattle guard and gates. Tech officials said that arrangement was inadequate, and called for a multigrade crossing with trail traffic on one level and livestock or farm machinery on the other.
Tech's decision has sent planners back to their drawing boards, with the most likely modification of the trail crossing using a cement culvert to create a 40-foot underpass below the road.
"It's a disappointment," said Bill Ellenbogen, president of Friends of the Huckleberry. "All the unanticipated expenses we've encountered are."
Environmental regulations and modifications to the trail's course have stalled the project during much of 1994, and delayed its estimated completion for at least a year.
Now trail planners are wondering if the $453,424 state grant awarded the project last year will be enough to get the job done.
The same governmental hand that has offered to feed the project has been siphoning away funds as the trail has been forced to comply with a litany of regulations.
In addition to proving the trail won't harm endangered species, Indian artifacts and Tech's cattle, officials now must assert the Huckleberry won't discriminate against the handicapped.
Standards set by the new Americans with Disabilities Act say trails like the Huckleberry can't be too steep for handicapped users. But the pathway will have to be extensively - and expensively - reconfigured if the grade is to uniformly meet the federal standards.
"We want to accommodate the handicapped as best we can," said Lance Terpenny, Christiansburg's assistant town manager and chairman of the Huckleberry Trail's Engineering Committee. "But if the regulations stop the project altogether, no one benefits."
Trail officials now must prove to the state that they have made exhaustive efforts to mitigate the trail's slope.
Meanwhile, Craig Lukezic will continue his examination of the archeological sites near the Huckleberry Trail's path, which was designed to generally follow an abandoned railway.
Lukezic said last month that significant finds could warrant more extensive site examinations that could cost the trail between $40,000 and $200,000.
Wednesday he told the Engineering Committee that such an expense is unlikely, despite the discovery of a new prehistoric site near the trail as it passes behind the Corning plant.
The new site contains an apparent stone tool and some tool-making shards, which Lukezic estimates were used from several hundred to several thousand years ago.
This find contains materials similar to what was found at the other sites along the trail. Their significance to archeologists is greater than just debris, he said, because the site may yield information from soils or even blood residue that can be DNA-tested.
Until all environmental issues are satisfied, none of the state money can be spent for construction or land acquisition. Also, the original trail construction estimates were made more than a year ago in less vigorous economic times.
When the money is finally released, contractors may charge higher rates. "Until we can put out bids, we won't really know," Ellenbogen said.
If the state money runs out, the trail may have to be built in phases rather than in its entirety as originally planned. "We may have to scramble," Ellenbogen said.
by CNB