Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 18, 1995 TAG: 9502220008
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sorry, but chances that the proposed ``smart'' road will go to that place aren't as good as the snowball's proverbial odds of surviving there.
Opponents may find consolation, nevertheless, in a decision by Virginia Department of Transportation officials to involve some of the smart road's outspoken critics in planning the route. It's a smart move.
Project foes as well as supporters from the New River and Roanoke valleys have been included on a 15-member citizens advisory committee to make suggestions on overall design, environmental aspects and other issues involving the proposed six-mile highway linking Blacksburg and Interstate 81 west of Roanoke.
The foes are not shy types. They'll undoubtedly keep the committee meetings lively, if not raucous. But dissenters can make major contributions to a project's eventual success and public acceptance - raising red flags, questioning assumptions, pointing out errors of supporters' ways, and speaking up on behalf of residents who might otherwise feel they lacked a voice in the matter.
There will always be some opponents who can never be persuaded to temper their bitterness, adjust to reality, and work for the best possible outcome. Witness Roanoke neighborhood activist Evelyn Bethel's opposition to the needed widening of Wells Avenue through Gainsboro.
The sad possibility is that nothing city officials could do would ever convince her that City Hall's intent is anything but evil. Other critics, fortunately, have worked with project planners to help enhance the road's design and its impact on the neighborhood. Compromises and good-faith changes have been made. Both the project and the neighborhood have benefited.
In a similar spirit, the smart-road advisory panel has elected as its chairman a dissenter - Bill Richardson, an environmentalist with Virginia Tech's Cooperative Extension Service. His inaugural address: ``If it [the road] is going to happen, and that's the premise of this committee, then let's do it right. That's where I'm coming from.''
Indeed, it appears the road is going to happen - and the sooner the better, as we see it, because of the economic-development potential it holds for this region. The initial stage - a two-mile, two-lane segment - seems to be on go with promised funding from the state and Virginia Tech's participation in a consortium that has won a federal grant to develop advanced transportation technology.
Tech's membership in the consortium is bound to enhance its reputation as a leader in high-tech transportation research. The university's higher profile and completion of the smart road could prove a wellspring for entrepreneurs, engineers and transportation-related high-tech businesses, generating well-paying jobs and attracting research investments of their own.
Environmentalists, no-growth advocates and property owners in the Ellett Valley, through which the road will be built, ought not to succeed in blocking this promising project. But neither should the critics be excluded from the process.
Their participation could lead, as it has in Gainsboro, to a better end-product. And perhaps, along the way, some opponents will become supporters.
by CNB