Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 7, 1995 TAG: 9511070024
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: McCLUER SHERRARD
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The opening of the New Century Council to membership by areas not previously included and putting the New Century area in the proper context might suggest a truly appropriate name, as well as projects not suggested by the New Century brainstorming, that would tie the region together.
The council took a monumental and essential first step, and areas not included, such as Martinsville-Henry County, are taking similar first steps, as they must whether or not they join the council.
For the next step, we need to think in the context of the region from Washington, D.C., to Charlotte, N.C., and maybe beyond, except for the part of Northern Virginia that looks to Washington as its "big city." Even that might be changed if Roanoke develops as I want it to.
On the east, the region would be bounded by the counties along U.S. 29; on the west by the counties along Interstate 77. It would include the Greenbrier Valley and other West Virginia counties in Roanoke TV stations' coverage areas, counties that look to Roanoke as their "big city."
The area in North Carolina along Interstates 85, 77 and 40 to Winston-Salem and Charlotte could join the council; or, more likely, have a separate, cooperating council of its own. The heart of the region would be the I-81/I-73/I-85 corridor.
The localities in this region have a lot in common: a relatively mild climate, generally ample water supply, and sources of power close at hand. Roanoke and Greensboro are consistently ranked among the best places to live in the country. The region has the resources to grow in a positive way - as Eastern Virginia and Hampton Roads don't have - if we control and direct that growth.
In my scheme, existing larger cities such as Roanoke and Lynchburg would not grow in population, but become centers of culture, live entertainment, specialized services and upscale shopping.
Unlike Washington and Richmond, downtown Roanoke at night is safe to walk around in: It is known for its low crime rate and comparative lack of congestion. If it had shops such as Nieman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany's and the Nature Company - which I would put on West Campbell Avenue, within easy walking of the Hotel Roanoke - it might draw people from areas closer to Washington and Richmond than to Roanoke. Campbell Avenue would again be the bustling, alive area it was in my childhood, only upscaled.
But the main source of customers would be created by enhancing and expanding smaller cities and towns in the region, and creating new cities, so that there would be many cities of 20,000 to 40,000, with permanent farmland and forests between. From having lived in Salem and Martinsville most of my life, I know how convenient and pleasant life is in small cities, with all daily needs close at hand, no traffic jams and a strong sense of community. Such cities would provide customers and patrons for Roanoke and Lynchburg without causing urban sprawl.
Several things must be done to make all this possible, in addition to zoning.
U.S. 29, from Washington to Greensboro, needs to be upgraded to an interstate, for the sake of the entire state. At present, Interstate 95 from Washington to Petersburg carries all the New York-Florida and New York-Atlanta traffic. When I lived in Richmond, more than 20 years ago, I-95 was congested, and must be even more so now. Upgrading U.S. 29 would help Eastern Virginia by getting the New York-Atlanta traffic out of the Washington-Petersburg corridor, provide a more direct route for that traffic, and put it where it would help localities. I would bring it into I-73 just east of Martinsville, and run the two interstates concurrently to I-85 southwest of Greensboro, thus getting through traffic out of downtown Greensboro.
With a few exceptions, topography makes the U.S. 29 corridor, just east of the mountains, the natural place for most expanded and new cities, so upgrading U.S. 29 would help those cities also.
But even more important to making these cities possible is having a uniformly high standard of education throughout the region. That would allow new industries to locate wherever they found suitable sites, especially near the small cities. For example, the topography of Henry and Pittsylvania counties allows for large-scale industrial sites not available in the Roanoke Valley.
There ought to be at least an informal agreement among the region's localities that the best ideas from all the localities would become universal norms, and we may need an information network to publicize such ideas. For example, the New Century Council report recommends an academic school-letter - something Martinsville has had for 18 years - and Danville is applying total quality management to its school system.
I want Roanoke to achieve the same pre-eminence in the western two-thirds of Virginia and parts of West Virginia that WVTF, the public radio station, has. To do this, Roanoke needs to reach out and bond with as many localities as it can, with projects both that benefit Roanoke and that don't - the latter to show the caring, service and leadership that are the essence of prestige.
One such bonding project would be a recreational railroad from Roanoke to Staunton. This is not as improbable a scheme as it may first appear, because in the 1850s the Shenandoah Valley Railroad was laid out from Harrisonburg to Salem, and the roadbed was actually graded and culverts were built. While tracks were laid only from Harrisonburg to Staunton, the rest of the roadbed and culverts are still visible in many places and presumably could be used.
If Roanoke would develop a scheme for a state parkway system, it could exercise leadership that would benefit the entire state - and maybe surrounding states. Among the parts of such a system might be a James River Parkway from the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Colonial Parkway; a New River Parkway, in cooperation with North Carolina and West Virginia; and a Roanoke River Parkway, from Interstate 81 at Ironto to Albemarle Sound, in cooperation with North Carolina.
Roanoke can become pre-eminent through ideas and reaching out. Indispensable in bringing about any ideas is The Roanoke Times, as an established medium that can publicize and advocate ideas and disseminate in-depth information to and about the entire region. Roanokers need to be interested in more than just their immediate area; they need to see the city in the broader context; they need to act in cooperation with other localities.
McCluer Sherrard of Martinsville is a librarian in the Blue Ridge Regional Library system.
Editor's note: The New Century Council, a citizens' effort to craft a 20-year strategic vision for the region, this past summer issued a 250-page report filled with proposals and ideas.
Among the report's recommendations are to "create a positive regional identity," in part by "renaming the New Century region," and to "create sustainable development while planning and coordinating growth to enhance the region's quality of life."
In this commentary, McCluer Sherrard of Martinsville - an area not included in the New Century region as defined by the council - calls for a broader understanding of the region as a way toward reaching those and other goals.
This is one in an occasional series of commentaries by people with an interest in specific portions of the report.
by CNB