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

DATE: THURSDAY, May 4, 1995                   TAG: 9505040088
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HIGHWAY BILL CLEARS 1ST HURDLE

The full Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has not yet scheduled action on the bill, but that could come as early as next week, said Ann Loomis, an aide to Sen. John Warner, R-Va.

The legislation contains a section written by Warner, the subcommittee's chairman, that amends the 1991 federal highway bill to designate a Virginia route for I-73.

The proposed interstate would run from Graylin, Mich., near the Canadian border, to Charleston, S.C. Road supporters had suggested Detroit as the northern end point, but the terminus was changed to Graylin at the request of Michigan officials.

The Virginia portion, as specified in Warner's bill, follows U.S. 460 from Bluefield to connect with the "smart" road near Blacksburg. It then follows interstates 81 and 581 to Roanoke, where it then would trace the course of U.S. 220 to North Carolina. Virginia's Commonwealth Transportation Board approved that route last year.

As the result of a compromise worked out between Warner and Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C., the bill designates a second new interstate route. That route, called I-74, would follow existing I-77 from Bluefield to U.S. 52 south of Mount Airy, N.C.

The second route is designed to address the concerns of North Carolina highway officials, who wanted I-73 to enter their state along I-77 near Mount Airy - the original plan for I-73, contained in the 1991 federal highway bill. North Carolina, which already is improving U.S. 52 between Mount Airy and Winston-Salem to near interstate standards, has said it would be happy as long as the road gets an interstate designation, regardless of the number.

The 1991 highway bill, called the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, requires Congress to complete designation of the National Highway System by Oct. 1. The proposed system contains 159,000 miles of high-priority roads, three-fourths of them rural, that carry 40 percent of the nation's highway traffic and 75 percent of all commercial truck traffic.

After Oct. 1, money will be made available to the states for system construction and upkeep on a ratio of four federal dollars for every state dollar. Virginia's share of that money will amount to between $360 million and $380 million a year.

A National Highway System bill has not yet been introduced in the House of Representatives.