ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 4, 1996 TAG: 9606040042
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
The "smart" road will not harm the county's policy to preserve farm and forest lands but might not provide service to the public in the most practical and economical manner, a new report concludes.
Montgomery County's smart road committee, which includes four county staff members and an outside consultant, determined a conservation district that falls within the smart road's path would not be significantly damaged by the project.
Though the report says there will be "some degradation of the environment," a development corridor would not be created if the road cuts through the protected zone - formally called an agricultural and forestal district - because there would not be an interchange within the protected zone and access would be limited.
However, the report added that the Virginia Department of Transportation must show a good-faith effort was made to find alternative locations for the smart road's test bed, the first two miles of the road that would be used to try out transportation research while the rest of the project is constructed.
If the test bed can be relocated, the report said, "the committee does not believe the proposed road, as a transportation corridor alone, will provide the service in the most economical and practical manner."
The report is the first in a series of recommendations the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors may use to determine whether VDOT can take about 140 acres out of a conservation district to build the smart road. The board can grant, deny or delay VDOT's request at its June 10 meeting.
Three advisory committees to the Board of Supervisors - the Planning Commission, Montgomery Regional Economic Development Commission and Agricultural and Forestal District Advisory Committee - all will make recommendations during separate meetings on Wednesday using information from this five-page report.
All of these committees and the Board of Supervisors are considering two issues when looking at VDOT's request: the road's effect on the county's policy to preserve and enhance farm and forest lands within these conservation districts and the necessity of the smart road to provide services to the public in the most "economical and practical manner."
The county's smart road committee emphasized in its report that economic development and research aspects of the project's test bed are important, but raised the possibility that it could be built elsewhere.
Jack Hodge, a recently retired chief engineer at VDOT, said in a list of questions sent to him for use in a smart road opponent's lawsuit that intelligent highway systems - the technology that would be tested on the smart road - could be tested along the U.S. 460 bypass in Blacksburg on the opposite side from Virginia Tech's main campus.
He also answered "no" to the question of whether the smart road should be constructed as proposed.
Hodge's alternative, along with two other possible locations for a test bed were mentioned in this report.
VDOT already had been asked by the county whether a test bed could be incorporated into Alternative 3A, another road project scheduled to relieve congestion on U.S. 460 between Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Interstate 81. Transportation officials said a test bed could be built on Alternative 3A but would be expensive and would make further expansion of this road difficult.
Dan Brugh, VDOT resident engineer in Christiansburg, said a two-mile test bed could be built at other locations, but added the smart road is more than a place to conduct research - it also serves transportation needs. Though VDOT has not considered alternative locations for a two-mile test bed alone, Brugh said three other pathways for the entire road were examined in 1990 and eventually were whittled down to the current plan.
"You can build a two-mile road anywhere but it goes back to my two points: you won't save any money and you're building something not used by traffic," said Brugh, who intends to write to the committee.
Shireen Parsons, chairwoman of the Sierra Club's New River chapter, disagrees with the committee's conclusion that the smart road will not hurt the conservation zone. It is past time to look for a good-faith effort from VDOT to find alternatives, she said.
"It's not a matter of transportation, it's not a matter of research, they want this highway to benefit special interests," she said.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB