Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 8, 1995 TAG: 9507120035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The report allows the Virginia Department of Transportation to proceed with plans to build the proposed 6-mile highway between Blacksburg and Interstate 81 near Shawsville, a department engineer said.
The discovery last summer of smooth coneflowers, which are federally recognized as endangered, along the proposed path of the road forced the department to come up with alternative routes. In addition, the department was required to determine the road's potential effect on the plants.
But the report found that the road will not affect the continued existence of the flowers, which are known to exist in only about two dozen locations in the Southeast.
``If there's a possibility whatsoever [of harming species] ... we're required to go through the process,'' said Paul Johnson, an environmental engineer with the department's Salem district. ``The conclusion is that, no, it would not.''
The report found that of about 200 plants in the area, only a single plant will be directly affected by the road's construction.
``We can proceed at this point,'' Johnson said.
The department plans to hold a public hearing in September on the project, envisioned as a prototype for new computer-assisted technology designed to improve traffic safety. Expected to be built in phases over as many as 15 years, the road was conceived by Roanoke business leaders to create a closer link to Virginia Tech. Its Tech backers also see it as a potential research and economic boon to the university and the New River Valley; critics consider it an environmental and fiscal boondoggle.
While not requiring VDOT to take any specific measures regarding the plant, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommends that it do four things to minimize the road's impact on the species.
An advisory committee, made up of area residents handpicked by VDOT to make suggestions on the project, passed a resolution Thursday night supporting the recommendations, which urge the department to:
nBuy land near Iron Mine Hollow, where several populations of the endangered plant have been identified, and place perpetual conservation easements on the property and donate it to a reputable conservation entity.
nAvoid introducing any kind of plant into the area that might compete with the smooth coneflower.
nPay for annual inspections of the smooth coneflowers for at least five years following the road's construction to determine any impact on the plants.
nRefrain from spraying herbicides within one-half mile of the smooth coneflower populations.
Whether the recommendations will be followed, however, remains undecided.
``It's hard to say at this point,'' Johnson said. ``They'll certainly be very seriously considered.''
A recommendation to not spray herbicides won't be difficult to follow, he said. But asking the department to buy 35 to 40 acres on which the flowers grow, or to fund annual inspections, is another matter.
``This is going to be passed on up'' through the ranks of decision-makers, Johnson said.
At Thursday's committee meeting, two members voted against the review because they thought it was not in the the department's purview to pay for such things. The resolution passed 8-2.
The department's original plans showed the road running directly through the plant populations. VDOT came up with two alternatives, including a northerly route that passed through the 19th-century site of the Montgomery White Sulphur Springs resort, where wounded soldiers were treated during the Civil War.
The southerly route - which has developed into the preferred of the two - runs between groupings of plants but does not run over them, with the possible exception of the single flower.
Had the original route not been altered, ``I imagine the [Fish and Wildlife Service's] conclusion would have been quite a bit different,'' Johnson said.
by CNB