ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 13, 1996 TAG: 9605130054
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
NOW THAT< Virginia's Department of Transportation has provided to Montgomery County supervisors more than 60 pages of additional information answering their questions about the so-called smart road, it's time to move ahead with the project.
Last November, supervisors came close to making the mistake of a decade when they voted against a VDOT request to take 140 acres in a conservation district needed to build the link from Blacksburg to Interstate 81. Fortunately, a narrow majority had second thoughts and rescinded that vote, asking for more information.
No one should begrudge the supervisors' request. These were appropriate questions, rightly asked. Montgomery's elected officials have good cause to assure that their decision is well-informed.
The important thing is that the answers provided by VDOT earlier this month reaffirm both the value of building this transportation-research proving ground, and the folly of any board action that might kill it. VDOT concludes, for example, that:
The smart road, while improving travel time and access to Blacksburg, would have a minimal impact on the county conservation district. About 30 acres of pasture and 110 acres of woodlands would have to be removed from the 2,800-acre district. Supervisor Joe Gorman, who had been concerned on this point, says he's satisfied now.
If the smart road weren't built, Alternative 3A would not offer a substitute site for testing computerized traffic-management, safety systems, automated vehicles and the like. The planned bypass connector, which would help relieve traffic congestion on U.S. 460 between Blacksburg and Christiansburg, would have too many inter-changes, for one thing. For another, temporary detours could be built along the smart road when it has to be closed off for hours or days at a time - but that isn't an option for Alt. 3A. That road would be built in a more constrained space, and would be more heavily traveled.
Not building the smart road would have adverse environmental effects. VDOT projects an additional 24,000 cars would travel on Alt. 3A, requiring expansion to six lanes by the year 2010. Adding the extra two lanes would consume more homes and businesses, cost another $60 million or more, and require the redesign and expansion of interchanges.
All these are important, as well as reaffirming, observations. They are nonetheless secondary to the principal benefit posed by the smart road, which it would be a scandal to squander. It's not the saved driving time, though that would help draw the region closer together. It's the opportunity to become a major research center for a multi-billion-dollar high-tech industry.
In addition to research dollars brought into the region, recognition of Virginia Tech's automated-vehicle work would attract researchers, students and jobs. Well-paying jobs. Spinoffs might nurture employment in such industries as fiber optics, software development, wireless communication and robotics.
To be sure, VDOT's report was unlikely to provide ammunition for the smart road's critics. State officials want the project to go forward. To be sure, too, Tech officials may have gotten a bit over-excited in their financial and employment projections.
County residents and their elected representatives can be sure, though, of one thing: The smart road, and whatever dollars it draws and jobs it spawns, will go somewhere. Why not here?
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB