ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: what's on your mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: Wouldn't it be possible to put a sign along Interstate 81 telling its many travelers they are now entering the famous Shenandoah Valley of Virginia? We need a really distinctive sign, not one of those brown ones that designate state parks. I think it would thrill people to know they're in such a famous place, and might cause them to stop and visit.
G.B., Wytheville
A: Put up a sign? That's not a big problem.
Where to put it? That's a problem.
Virginia's leading authority in getting travelers to leave their money here, Martha Steger of the Division of Tourism, says the Shenandoah Valley begins in Roanoke - and has for the past dozen years.
That's been the official line ever since the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau successfully pleaded for that recognition.
Roanoke's recognition, then, was a political or a marketing decision.
But where to put the sign? Certainly not on Mill Mountain; the star doesn't need the competition.
Getting away from defining places by perceptions, I asked someone who knows about valleys in the geographic sense.
Jim Beard, curator of earth science at the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville, didn't hesitate.
The Shenandoah Valley is the area drained by the Shenandoah River, pure and simple. That would put the southern terminus somewhere between Staunton and Lexington.
Let's not get our valley allegiances in an uproar, though; Beard went on to acknowledge that this region really is a series of valleys: Shenandoah River, James River, Roanoke River, New River, Holston, Clinch, Tennessee, and more.
None of that tells us where we could get away with placing a sign, though.
This is the sort of issue that threatens a politician's longevity.
Let's face it; politicians are necessary when it comes to putting up a Shenandoah Valley sign. Current laws and regulations don't allow the sign you suggest beside the interstate, and new billboard-type signs are against the rules, too.
So where do we put the sign, assuming we cut the red tape? At Interstate 581, so people could find the Transportation Museum?
How about Dixie Caverns, the first tourist attraction the motorist encounters after dodging the trucks that roll freely off Christiansburg Mountain?
Nope. Those spots are too specific. This sort of sign should spread the travel dollars around.
The foot of Christiansburg Mountain is out; that's where the Ironto truck stop is situated.
We need a place that doesn't have anything to gain from the sign.
How about the northern end of the Ironto straightaway?
By the time drivers can read a sign there, they have just passed the last rest stop for 123 miles.
They'll be needing a friendly place to stop before long.
Call the sign an investment, an invitation to a place of more than passing interest.
Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Call us at 981-3118. Or, e-mail RayRRoanoke.Infi.Net. Maybe we can find the answer.|
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