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

DATE: SATURDAY, May 6, 1995                   TAG: 9505080066
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

`SMART' ROAD ADVISORY ROAD PANEL FAVORS OVERLOOK

If highway planners heed a citizens' panel, the northbound lanes of the "smart" road will feature an overlook with a spectacular view of Ellett Valley and Poor Mountain. The overlook would serve as a gateway to Blacksburg and Virginia Tech and would showcase the new technology pioneered by the proposed high-tech highway.

A Virginia Department of Transportation citizens advisory committee endorsed such an overlook by a 13-0 vote Thursday. The recommendation is nonbinding, but state highway planners may use it and the panel's other suggestions in designing the controversial, expensive six-mile link between Blacksburg and Interstate 81.

For now, the state has enough money only to build a two-mile test bed between Blacksburg and a bridge over Wilson Creek in the Ellett Valley. But plans - including one being pushed by Sen. John Warner - call for incorporating the entire smart road into Interstate 73, the proposed Michigan to South Carolina highway.

The citizens' panel agreed to the endorsement after dropping wording that called for hiking trails, a service road and restrooms at the overlook. Some members thought such features would only add to the cost, take more land and create litter or safety problems.

The panel approved two other resolutions:

By a 13-0 vote, the group recommended that planners restrict smart-road access at I-81 for traffic headed to and from Roanoke only. For example, a driver leaving Blacksburg on the smart road could not turn south toward Bristol once reaching I-81, but could only head north. Such a move would cut down on the cost and space taken up by the interchange near Shawsville.

By an 11-2 vote, the panel urged highway planners to buy undeveloped land next to or near the smart road. The set-asides would be designed to conserve land and preserve wildlife and plant habitat - matching or exceeding the 250 acres consumed by the highway corridor.

by CNB