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

DATE: MONDAY, November 28, 1994                   TAG: 9411280079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WILMINGTON, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

N.C., S.C. CAN'T AGREE ON I-73 ROUTE

Nearly a year after North Carolina approved a route for its section of a proposed interstate highway linking Detroit and Charleston, S.C., South Carolina has decided where it wants the road, which would enter North Carolina near Winston-Salem. The road would pass through Virginia before it heads into West Virginia.

Under South Carolina's plan, the proposed Interstate 73 would cross the South Carolina state line just south of Rockingham, roughly following U.S. 1 to Bennettsville.

The route proposed by North Carolina would pull I-73 east along U.S. 74-76 before entering South Carolina near Calabash.

Unless the states can agree, Congress might settle the dispute.

The highway itself could take decades to build, if it's ever built at all, but officials in states it would link have been busy working out routes.

North Carolina officials, for now, remain committed to their route selection, said Jimmy Garrell, a Tabor City businessman who has been at the forefront of the I-73 Association in North Carolina.

South Carolina's decision, however, means the project ``has to begin a new trek through Congress,'' he said.

South Carolina's proposed route would bring the interstate across the state line near Bennettsville and then head east to Conway, virtually paralleling North Carolina's proposed route, but on the south side of the state line.

South Carolina's roads along the proposed route are less developed than North Carolina's.