Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 14, 1995 TAG: 9505150009
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
We wound down and up that lane along a small valley. The narrow pastures along the tree-lined creek gave way to steep mountainsides on one side and rolling hills on the other. A few houses, some recent and expensive, some older farmsteads, told of the changes already spreading back into this once-remote hollow.
Driving back along its twisting path, we saw a stark sign of the future of this hardscrabble hollow: two huge aerial surveying crosses outlined in white against the pastures.
In a few years, the valley will be home to the rumble and rush of the "smart" road. For the first time, the abstract became concrete in my mind.
The smart road and Interstate 73 came a giant step closer to reality Wednesday when a Senate committee approved the interstate and its compromise route worked out by Sen. John Warner, R-Va., and Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C. The interstate is now set to come through the New River Valley along U.S. 460 and the "smart" road before hitting Interstate 81 and heading south on U.S. 220 toward Greensboro - the route favored by the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
This interstate project has become a divisive issue for our valley. It has split several communities into two groups: those who oppose the roads because of the environmental impact on narrow passages along the New River in Giles County and pristine sections of the Ellett Valley vs. those who see the project as a boost for economic development and Virginia Tech's growing national role in highway research.
Local officials who once routinely approved any road project have scrambled and backtracked to respond to community opposition. Locally, the Giles Supervisors and the Blacksburg Town Council have opposed the route through their communities. The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors opposed one route - a now abandoned corridor through the Catawba Valley - but is not opposing the overall project. The Greater Blacksburg Blacksburg Chamber of Commerce is actively lobbying for the local interstate route.
Whether we have the road may no longer even be an issue. The Commonwealth Transportation Board and our senators agree on this route and unless it is derailed in the House of Representatives by folks such as Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, who favors a Pulaski County route, we'll have a new interstate in our backyard.
How should the state and federal governments involve the public in designing this highway? It will have a major impact on the appearance and quality of life in some of the most pristine and most populated areas of the New River Valley. A major interstate will doubtless mean large interchanges in Blacksburg as it cuts through the town's rapidly developing western half.
At present, all we have are the vaguest corridor maps. What is essential is that the public be involved from the outset in determining the interstate's route and ameliorating, if possible, the human impact. Highway planners design roads to move cars, but obviously an urban interstate will involve more complex issues of dividing a community, of appearance, development pressures, of neighborhood impact.
Highway officials say there will be numerous public information meetings and public hearings once Congress picks a corridor and allocates money for the project.
Locally, Dan Brugh, resident engineer for the Virginia Department of Transportation, is already trying an innovative project to involve local residents in locating and designing the smart road - pulling together proponents, opponents and "in-betweens" in an effort that could create headaches as well as good ideas for a highway planner.
Unfortunately, most "progress" comes at someone's cost. How many of us would give up the convenience, the economic potential of I-81, yet I remember worried family discussions when I was a child as that interstate cut my grandfather's farm in half and leveled neighbors' homes in Botetourt County.
Today local residents are more organized, more vocal about how such a project will affect their lives. I-73 involves huge tradeoffs and no easy answers for the New River Valley. The only given is that many people should be involved as early as possible in shaping the road that will undoubtedly shape our communities' future.
Elizabeth Obenshain is the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River editor.
by CNB