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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 27, 1995                   TAG: 9507270040
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PARKWAY PUTS IN ITS 2

The national caretakers of the Blue Ridge Parkway have added their opinion to the already heated debate over proposed improvements to U.S. 221, calling for all construction to remain within the existing roadbed.

In a recent letter to the Virginia Department of Transportation, superintendent Gary Everhardt concluded that a new highway would have detrimental effects on the parkway's views and rural character.

"We find the improvements that would occur within the existing U.S. Route 221 corridor to be the least obtrusive alternative with respect to Blue Ridge Parkway short- and long-term viewshed impacts," he said.

The natural topography and vegetation along 221 help obscure the view of the existing road from the parkway, Everhardt said.

The National Park Service's letter, dated July 11, is likely to add even more confusion to the politically sticky situation that is deteriorating quickly into a Catch-221 for VDOT engineers.

The department included $3 million in its six-year plan to make improvements to 221 after residents complained about heavy traffic and unsafe driving conditions. The curving, two-lane road, also known as Bent Mountain Road, winds through the Back Creek area, connecting Brambleton Avenue with the base of Bent Mountain.

The engineers have said they would prefer to build a new four-lane highway, south of the creek, because it would cost less and displace fewer homes and businesses. After making unprecedented efforts to gather public input, however, VDOT discovered that nearly half of the area's residents want construction to remain within the existing roadbed.

Now it's decision-making time.

The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors has agreed to hold a public hearing on the project in September, after VDOT releases its recommendation to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which has the final say.

On Tuesday, Supervisor Bob Johnson asked that the National Park Service's letter be added to the file for consideration at the public hearing stage.

The parkway superintendent's letter focused on both short- and long-term effects of a new highway, but gave special emphasis to concerns about encroaching growth.

"Improved roads, especially those constructed on new alignments, facilitate residential and commercial development of farmlands. Much of the area between the existing U.S. Route 221 corridor and the Parkway has limited road access, which acts to perpetuate the rural character and land uses that are most compatible with Parkway tourism values," Everhardt wrote.

"It is our belief that all of the [new highway options] would open this area up to and accelerate development of these rural lands, thus diminishing scenic Parkway values."