Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 27, 1995 TAG: 9509270034
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
In an early autumn drizzle, Martinez strolled along the Huckleberry Trail's route and issued an apology of sorts for the "small taste of nonsense" local organizers have encountered while trying to build the six-mile pathway.
Nearly two years have passed since the project was first awarded a state grant, yet not an inch of the pathway has been built. Supporters have had to negotiate a frustrating gauntlet of regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles that sapped the uncontroversial trail's momentum.
Now, with all requirements satisfied, Martinez told a group of local government and business leaders that - finally - they had reached "the start of good things."
"This is precisely the kind of project that was meant to be," he said.
Bikers, joggers and strollers should be able to use at least half of the Huckleberry by next summer, and perhaps all of it by the end of 1996, said assistant Montgomery County planner Jeff Rice.
Only one more federal check-off remains before advertising the project for bids. Martinez said that routine OK should happen within the week.
The first construction phase will extend the trail from a section already in place near Margaret Beeks Elementary School to the intersection of Merrimac and High Point roads. Phase two, which Rice said may be ready to bid by May, will take the trail to its southern terminus at the New River Valley Mall.
"I feel relieved that it's moving forward," said Bill Ellenbogen, president of Friends of the Huckleberry.
Ellenbogen, credited with spearheading the project, also has been the most vocal critic of the regulatory-induced delays that cost the trail time and money to accommodate environmental issues. "There was no opposition. It should have gone right on through," he reiterated Tuesday.
Martinez's nod toward local problems with red tape was "encouraging" to Ellenbogen. The secretary said efforts in Congress to reduce federal mandates may streamline the approval process for future projects like the Huckleberry Trail.
The grant money to fund the Huckleberry Trail will come from a federal program that routes money for alternative transportation projects through the state Department of Transportation. That double-barrel dose of state and federal bureaucracy means these projects can be difficult and time-consuming, Martinez said.
Thusfar, the grant program has awarded about $7 million to 30 Virginia projects, including more than $700,000 to the Huckleberry Trail. Martinez admitted having misgivings about some of those projects because they don't truly fulfill the program's criteria.
However, he said the Huckleberry Trail was a perfect fit. The trail, a paved surface from 8 to 10 feet wide with 2-foot compacted dirt shoulders, will generally follow an abandoned rail line.
It will preserve the railroad corridor and scenic and historic sites along the way, while allowing a diverse group of trail users access to facilities such as the Blacksburg library, the New River Valley Mall, the Warm Hearth Retirement Village and schools such as Margaret Beeks Elementary, Martinez noted.
"You all did your homework," he told the gathering, which included officials from Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Montgomery County, Virginia Tech, the state Department of Transportation, local businesses and the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
Starting phase one construction in the winter may delay progress, but may lower costs by offering work during the slow season for contractors, Rice said.
Meanwhile, committees are at work planning about 15 trailside markers that will display information about the pathway's coal mining and railroad history and its natural surroundings. Also, the trail has a new page on the World Wide Web that gives information on the project. The Internet site is: http://www.colossus.net/national/clients/trail/
by CNB