ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601220031
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
The Citizens Advisory Committee for the "smart" road will meet for the first time this year at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The advisory group, formed by the Virginia Department of Transportation last year, will meet in VDOT's Christiansburg residency office, located at 105 Cambria St., just west of North Franklin Street and beside the former Lowe's store. The meeting is open to the public.
Ray Pethtel will make a presentation to the group, which includes project advocates and opponents and has been coming up with input on the road's design. Pethtel, the state transportation commissioner from 1986 to 1994, is Virginia Tech's spokesman for the smart road project and a transportation fellow at the university's Center for Transportation Research.
The smart road is a planned six-mile link between northern Blacksburg and Interstate 81 about 2 1/2 miles north of the current Christiansburg exit. It is designed to improve the trip between Blacksburg and Roanoke, to relieve traffic pressure on U.S. 460 in Christiansburg and to serve as a testing ground for new highway technology aimed at improving safety and efficiency. Its critics call it an unnecessary boondoggle that will ruin the rural environment of the Ellett Valley and Wilson Creek areas.
LENGTH: Short : 32 linesby CNB