Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412080051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG NOTE: BELOW LENGTH: Medium
More than 300 people came Wednesday to see the recipes ransportation planners have cooked up for moving Montgomery County's traffic into the next century through the "smart" road and an improved U.S. 460 Bypass.
Much of the crowd fell into three categories:
Those who say the U.S. 460 Bypass connector - known as Alternative 3A - can't come soon enough to ease traffic congestion between Christiansburg and Blacksburg.
Those who continue to question the need for the Virginia Tech-backed smart road;
Landowners whose property may be affected by construction and who just want to know the final designs so they can make decisions.
"We're just waiting for something definite to happen," said Fred Olinger, whose house on Ramble Road is slated for demolition once the bypass connector is built.
"If they'd tell me something for sure, I could go out and look for a piece of land," said Fred Carper, who lives nearby.
Most commercial property owners near the Blacksburg interchange have known for years their land would be taken. The new design moves the interchange about 400 feet east of the current on-ramp at South Main Street.
Though the five-hour map viewing at the Blacksburg Holiday Inn produced no surprises, "There have been some concerns from [Blacksburg] property owners who are affected now who weren't before," said Dan Brugh, an engineer with the transportation department's Christiansburg office.
The preliminary designs for the bypass connector and the smart road show web-like interchanges at the southern end of Blacksburg; at Peppers Ferry Road behind the Marketplace shopping center; where the current U.S. 460 Bypass meets North Franklin Street in Christiansburg; and near Falling Branch Elementary School at Interstate 81.
The designs are meant to handle traffic volumes projected for the year 2021.
"Most of it, I'd like to see next year," said Robert Youngs of Blacksburg.
"It's a horror show on 460, trying to get back into Blacksburg," said Warren Kark, a Tech architecture professor who lives in Christiansburg. "We can't go on the way we are."
Roy Jennelle came to make sure his family's 200-year-old cemetery wouldn't be harmed by the bypass connector.
"It's been there too long to be destroyed," he said.
The maps show it would be preserved.
The maps also indicate the highway will run right behind the Rainbow Riders child-care center in Blacksburg. "It's definitely going to impact the quality of care we can give children," said owner Lynn Hill, whose staff of 25 cares for 120 children.
"The noise itself is going to be a major thing," said Scott Hill, her husband.
Many who attended continued to doubt the need for the smart road, a six-mile project backed as a time saver between Roanoke and Blacksburg and as an experiment that could bring millions of industry and research dollars to the area.
"Oh, the dumb road?" asked Bob Peckman, a Roanoke engineer.
Peckman and his wife, Kris, said the road was unneeded. They questioned the state's plan to build two miles of it to test "smart" cars, sensors and safety equipment. No money has been allocated for the remaining four miles, though its chief proponent at Tech, Ray Pethtel, is seeking $30 million to finish it by 2000.
Opponents rolled their eyes at a Tech videotape that described the smart road as having a "positive effect on the environment," including colorful "flower showcases."
"I guess if you build roads, it's an improvement to the environment," said Chris Swan of Blacksburg.
There were converts, though. Mike Hadbavny of Blacksburg was skeptical in the past. Now he thinks it will lead to research that will speed up traffic, save lives and boost the local economy.
David Loeks, a retired Tech professor, detected a "dramatic tension" between longtime county residents who will lose rural vistas and Tech's smart road advocates.
"People feel threatened by the aggregation of power represented by this," he said.
But one resident, Marvin Graham of Den Hill Road, sees the need for the smart road in all the cars using Den Hill to cut between Shawsville and Blacksburg.
"I'm not one to stand in the way of progress, but if they do build it, I hope they take my land" so he can move elsewhere, Graham said.
Don Schumacher of Blacksburg summed up an often-heard opinion: "There never was a transportation need for the smart road. The bypass will take care of that."
by CNB