Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 26, 1994 TAG: 9410260036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Questionnaires will be mailed to as many as 20,000 Virginians about their recent travels and the mode of travel they used. Surveys also will be mailed to more than 15,000 motorists whose license tags are recorded at selected locations along the highways between Bristol and Washington and Bristol and Richmond.
Other travelers passing through airports and bus terminals in Bristol, Roanoke, Lynchburg and Richmond will be questioned, as will Amtrak passengers passing through the state.
The surveys will help the state's consulting firm, Frederic R. Harris Inc. of Fairfax, forecast the ridership for the proposed passenger service. It will help the consultant project how many automobile, bus and plane trips might be diverted by the proposed rail service.
The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation announced in August that it would conduct the $250,000 feasibility study. The study was requested by the 1993 General Assembly.
The study will examine such issues as what route the service should follow and what the current and forecast demand for rail passenger service would be. A progress report will be presented to the 1995 General Assembly.
Roanoke Mayor David Bowers and other mayors from Virginia and Tennessee pushed for the study and won approval from Amtrak and the state for it to be conducted. Local officials hope Roanoke, which has not had rail passenger service since 1979, would be included in the new service.
by CNB