Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9411170059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE LENGTH: Long
County Administrator Gerald Burgess said an improved U.S. 220 would give all Roanoke Valley businesses better access to Interstate 64, which links the region with the industrial centers in the Midwest.
The improvements to U.S. 220 also would provide the economically depressed Alleghany Highlands better access to the Roanoke Valley and to the southern part of Interstate 81, which links the region to business centers in the South.
Last spring, the state Transportation Board allocated $6million to improve "Dead Man's Curve," a tight, sharp turn on U.S. 220 about a mile and a half south of Iron Gate.
Burgess said that while the project improved about 11/2 miles of the highway, it created some additional problems.
The state provided money for an upgraded two-lane segment and to buy land for a future four-lane road.
While the curve is straightened, it will invite more tractor-trailer traffic, which will cause the highway to become more congested, Burgess said. Currently, some large trucks shy away from U.S. 220 because of its curves.
Another factor could be expansion at the Westvaco paper mill in Covington. Authorities estimate that an additional 14,000 trucks will travel to and from Covington each month because of increased business at Westvaco.
U.S. 220 serves as the major corridor for large trucks traveling from Southside Virginia to Westvaco. Even with the improvements, the roadway has some dangerous curves, Burgess said.
Burgess said Botetourt County will ask that other regional planning bodies - such as the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Authority and area chambers of commerce - join in supporting the U.S. 220 improvements.
He said the county also will seek support from local General Assembly members.
"We'll try to organize a little more effective lobby this year," he said. "We'd like to expedite construction."
State Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo said he will gladly lobby state transportation officials on behalf of the county. But Trumbo said the benefits are regional.
He says that an improved U.S. 220 would greatly improve Roanoke businesses' access to I-64. Now, some trucks travel at least an hour to reach westbound I-64 at Clifton Forge.
"If you look beyond this region, you get your major economic center running four lane all the way to Ohio," Trumbo said. "It would also provide that missing link between the Roanoke Valley and the Alleghany Highlands. When you look at Botetourt County, it is uniquely situated between the two interstates."
Glynn Loope, executive director of the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Authority, said gaining his group's support will not be hard.
"We encourage Botetourt to solicit our support," he said.
With the ongoing development of a new 300-acre industrial park, Alleghany County is casting a suitor's eye at potential industrial prospects.
Recruiting is severely hampered when one of the major access roads is a narrow, twisting, dangerous and outdated highway, Loope said.
"We shouldn't let a windy, curvy road stand in the way of the economic relationship between the Alleghany Highlands and the Roanoke Valley," Loope said.
Loope points out that the state already has made a sizable investment in the industrial park, known as the Alleghany Regional Commerce Center. The General Assembly allocated $500,000 to build a bridge across the Jackson River to the park.
The park also is requesting $300,000 from the industrial access road fund and will request another $700,000 in block grant money in the spring to complete water and sewer connections to the site.
If the park is successful in attracting businesses, Loope said, the employment opportunities certainly would spill over into Northern Botetourt.
Burgess also sees improvement to U.S. 220 as a way of helping Botetourt expand its economic development program into the job-starved northern sector of the county.
He said it's hard to lure industrial prospects or justify county funds being spent in an area where businesses would be handicapped by insufficient roadways.
Burgess said the county could overcome the lack of a public sewer system in Botetourt County by building small sewage treatment plants to accommodate industries. The county generally shies away from businesses with large sewage discharges.
While the county has no industrial parks slated for the northern area, Burgess said, the improvements to U.S. 220 would change that thinking. The county's comprehensive plan, set to be revised in 1998, could be amended before then to accommodate those changes.entire
With some northern county residents already feeling slighted during the county's current economic boom, a timetable that calls for improvement before 1998 is good news.
"We'd like to see the improvements substantially completed by then," Burgess said.
by CNB