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

DATE: SUNDAY, November 13, 1994                   TAG: 9411140099
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GOODLATTE TO PUSH DISTRICT'S 3 MAJOR HIGHWAY PROJECTS

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, may be going back to Washington to enact the GOP's partisan agenda.

But he's also got a nonpartisan agenda, dominated by three highway projects that have been high-profile issues back home. They are:

the proposed high-tech "smart" highway from Interstate 81 to Blacksburg (which actually is in the neighboring 9th District, but is a top priority for the Roanoke business community).

the proposed Interstate 73 from Michigan to South Carolina, which Virginia hopes will be routed through Roanoke to connect the Roanoke Valley with the Greensboro/Winston-Salem metro area in North Carolina.

and the proposed cross-country Transamerica Corridor, which Goodlatte hopes will be routed from Beckley, W.Va., through Covington and Clifton Forge to Roanoke and Lynchburg.

The "smart" highway is mostly in state hands now, and Gov. George Allen has pledged some funding.

However, the next Congress could have a lot to say about I-73 and the Transamerica Corridor. In the past session, the House approved $5 million to study a new interstate between Roanoke and the North Carolina Triad. It also approved $8 million to study a Transamerica route from Beckley to Lynchburg, but both measures died without Senate approval.

Despite the Republican upheaval in Congress, Goodlatte believes those projects will be revived in the next session. In some ways, he says, "I think it improves their chances."

A Virginian, Rep. Frank Wolf of Fairfax County, is now in line to become chairman of the Appropriations Committee's transportation subcommittee, the panel that would deal with highway funding.

And in the Senate, Virginia's John Warner is set to take over as chairman of the subcommittee that deals with highway projects. Warner has strongly backed a Roanoke route for I-73.

"That would be a very major factor," Goodlatte said.

Goodlatte isn't taking any chances, though. The day after the election, he was in Richmond to meet with Allen and state Secretary of Transportation Robert Martinez to make sure the highway projects are still on track.

by CNB