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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 20, 1994                   TAG: 9410210010
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GETTING GOING ON GREENWAYS

AN IMPORTANT meeting is happening today. At the Virginia Transportation Museum at noon, Roanoke Valley residents with an interest in greenways are gathering to watch a slide show by one of the founders of Tennessee's greenway system.

Sam Rogers - landscape architect, University of Tennessee professor, planner of greenways in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville - will offer a presumably pointed presentation, after which discussion is scheduled.

No. 1 agenda item: how to get greenways going in the Roanoke Valley. No. 1 hope: that they go somewhere.

The idea has been broached before, of course. A year ago, the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation sponsored a visit here by Edward McMahon, director of the American Greenways Program, which is a catalyst and clearinghouse for greenways around the country. In the past, everything from a network of bike trails to a Roanoke River conservation corridor has been urged on the Roanoke Valley, so far with little result.

But momentum, lacking before, may be building now. Perhaps from today's meeting a more organized movement will be born. That's how it has happened elsewhere, with scores - even hundreds - of grass-roots greenway efforts sprouting nationwide, led by citizens intent on improving their communities' well-being.

Greenways is a broad term for narrow strips of land used for conservation, transportation or recreation. They usually follow existing linear features, such as stream valleys, abandoned rail lines, scenic roads or ridgelines.

No, they won't cure cancer or end poverty. But they're a swell addition to the communities that enjoy them - for walking, biking, flood abatement, wildlife migration, natural buffer. They can connect neighborhoods to schools, riverfronts to downtowns, people to each other. And guess what: They enhance property values. They stimulate economic development.

Given the Appalachian Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway and natural scenery in our environs, the Roanoke Valley ought to be a leader in greenways development. Instead, we lag. Indeed, among speakers at today's get-together are two greenway experts from the New River Valley, which boasts a well-developed rails-to-trails initiative that leaves the neighboring valley in the dust.

Despair not. A cabal of enthusiasts is seeking to promote the Roanoke Valley's greenway potential. Their ranks include Lucy Ellett, president of Valley Beautiful; Bob Fetzer, a Roanoke general contractor; Barbara Duerk, former GOP City Council candidate, and an odd assortment of do-gooders, bicyclists, planners, retirees, architects, conservationists and others.

Their agendas range from spreading bike trails across the region to installing art along the railroad tracks downtown; from protecting the river corridor to linking Roanoke with Explore Park. What they all share is an interest in the valley's livability.

In his book, "Greenways for America," Charles Little describes the national greenways movement as perhaps "one of the most significant people-oriented efforts in civic improvement to be mounted in the postwar era." Today is a good day to start a Roanoke Valley greenways coalition, and for civic leaders to start hearing its pitch.

by CNB