ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 27, 1996 TAG: 9605290011
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: GORDON C. WILLIS
MORE THAN eight years ago, I volunteered to serve as chairman of the University Road Connection, a blue-ribbon panel formed to promote a more efficient road link between Roanoke and Virginia Tech. The University Road Connection recognizes the significant economic and practical benefits of the proposed direct-road connection to citizens of Montgomery County and the Roanoke Valley. The added prospect of Virginia Tech's participation in millions of dollars of research and development of ``smart road'' technology was an unexpected but welcomed windfall.
The University Road Connection is comprised of business leaders and elected officials from all parts of Virginia. They all recognize the relationship between a quality road-transportation system and sustained economic development. Committee members include: Roger Hedgepeth, the mayor of Blacksburg; Harold Linkous, the mayor of Christiansburg; Henry Jablonski, a member of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors; Don Beyer, Virginia's lieutenant governor; Linwood Holton, former governor of Virginia; Rick Boucher and Bob Goodlatte, members of Congress; and Vic Thomas, Lacey Putney, Watkins Abbott, Steve Agee, Ward Armstrong, Whittington Clement and Joyce Crouch, present or past members of the Virginia General Assembly.
Back in the mid-'30s, my father would take me with him on business trips to Christiansburg and Floyd. I remember how much alike the two towns were. Look how different they are today.
Montgomery County is one of the fastest growing areas in Virginia. The two major differences between Montgomery County and Floyd County are better roads and Tech.
Growth and economic prosperity go hand in hand only when sustained economic development accompanies growth in population. Every board of supervisors and every city council in Virginia spends time and resources trying to lure quality, high-paying jobs to its area. Montgomery County is certainly no exception. We all want our children to receive the best education possible, and to find attractive career opportunities without having to move out of Southwest Virginia.
On May 18, you published a letter to the editor titled "Smart road: a blatant example of corporate welfare'' by Michael S. Abraham, one of the smart-road opponents. He ridiculed the several letters of support from Montgomery County corporate leaders such as those at Volvo GM, Litton Poly-Scientific and Corning.
Abraham accused the Virginia Department of Transportation of trying to "serve its own interests rather than the public's.'' He calls the smart road "pure pork, a hugely expensive project with uncertain gain, to benefit very few."
Smart-road opponents ignore the fact that our citizens' economic welfare and corporate welfare are inextricably bound. Roanoke learned this lesson only too well in the '50s when the American Viscose plant closed.
With Montgomery County's continuing struggle to attract quality, high-paying jobs, it's difficult to comprehend why they would consider blocking Tech, Montgomery County's largest employer, from participation in millions of dollars of research and development.
What are VDOT's own interests? How many roads in Virginia has it built that turned out to be unused and unnecessary? VDOT's 1973 traffic count for Interstate 81 at Christiansburg was 17,430 cars per day; for Roanoke Street, 12,135 cars per day. In 1994, those numbers had grown to 39,000 cars per day on I-81 and 18,000 cars per day on Roanoke Street. VDOT's traffic projection for the year 2015 is 56,760 cars per day on I-81 and 41,150 per day on Roanoke Street.
The utility of a road is judged by how many automobiles use it. VDOT projects that by the year 2021, 23,200 cars per day will use the smart road. That's 23,200 cars per day that won't be traveling down Roanoke Street or the proposed 3A Bypass. The "very few" that the opponents say will benefit from the smart road are the 8 million cars a year that will use the safer and more efficient smart-road route.
Gordon C. Willis of Roanoke is chairman of the University Road Connection.
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