Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 23, 1995 TAG: 9503230081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Secretary of Transportation Robert Martinez, who has been in discussions with North Carolina officials, says he believes the states will come to terms without Congress having to step in and settle the dispute.
Martinez was in Salem for the Virginia Department of Transportation's annual highway pre-allocation hearing for the 12-county Salem Transportation District. The hearing drew scores of local officials and citizens interested in various transportation issues ranging from an unsafe Floyd County intersection to Montgomery County's high-tech "smart" road.
North Carolina highway officials want I-73 to run along existing Interstate 77 in Virginia through Bland, Wythe and Carroll counties. The road would enter North Carolina near Mount Airy. Virginia, however, has picked a route for I-73 that would take it into North Carolina roughly along U.S. 220 south of Martinsville.
I-73 is a proposed new interstate highway that would run from Detroit to Charleston, S.C.
The dispute between the two states over the crossing kept a Virginia route for I-73 out of National Highway System legislation last year. Congress adjourned before the legislation was passed.
Even though he expects the states to work things out, Martinez supports efforts by Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, and L.F. Payne, D-Nelson County, to have Roanoke included as part of an I-73 corridor in federal legislation. Congress would provide 80 percent of the funding for building the proposed road.
One possibility for a compromise with North Carolina, Martinez said, would be to have two new interstate designations. Virginia's preferred route from Bluefield along U.S. 460 to Roanoke and then along U.S. 220 to North Carolina could be called I-73; and a spur route, possibly called I-74, could be located along existing I-77.
Speaking in favor of a Roanoke route for I-73 were several elected officials and business people, who said the road in Virginia - particularly its southern section from Roanoke to North Carolina's Piedmont Triad - is crucial to the economic health of the region.
Speakers such as Bud Oakey, vice president of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Mike Harman, president of MW Manufacturers, Franklin County's largest employer, said U.S. 220 is unsafe and unable to accommodate the freight traffic a healthy economy requires.
"Companies considering relocation to our region will look at current Route 220 as an absolute negative," Harman said.
Not every speaker was an I-73 booster. Debbie Dull, a Giles County farmer and former Federal Highway Administration lawyer, said Virginia should quit wasting time and political capital trying to get I-73 through Roanoke. Routes 460 and 220 will be part of the National Highway System anyway and the state will get no more money for improving those roads with an interstate designation, she said.
Among other projects that drew strong support were a U.S. 460 bypass between Christiansburg and Blacksburg, improvements to Virginia 114 between the New River and Christiansburg, and the smart road. The smart road research was touted as a potential source for thousands of technology-related jobs for the region.
Also receiving support from more than one speaker were: the U.S. 58 improvements in Southside and Southwest Virginia, Virginia 100 widening in Giles County, repairs or replacement for deteriorated bridges on U.S. 11 at Radford over the new River and on Virginia 43 at Eagle Rock over the James River.
by CNB