ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 30, 1996 TAG: 9607300097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
Funding to study the route of the proposed TransAmerica Highway through Virginia has been passed to the state from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
A $400,000 federal appropriation totally funds the "conceptual engineering and feasibility" study.
The first-stage work should begin early next year and be completed within 12 months, said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, who asked that the money be included in the Federal Highway System legislation that became law earlier this year.
The TransAmerica Highway is now something of a misnomer. The road was originally conceived as a superhighway and high-speed rail bed that would run from Norfolk to Los Angeles. A feasibility study, however, ruled out the high-speed rail and concluded that only the eastern part of the highway would make sense.
The Virginia and West Virginia highway departments will work together on the route, Goodlatte said. The proposed path for the highway would enter Virginia from West Virginia on I-64, pick up U.S. 220 near Clifton Forge, and follow the U.S. 460 corridor from Roanoke to Norfolk.
Goodlatte announced the routing study at a news conference Monday in Lynchburg. The central Virginia city is one of the largest U.S. cities now without an interstate highway, but that would change if the TransAmerica highway were built.
"It's a high priority for me; it goes through a great portion of my district," Goodlatte said. The road would give an economic boost to both Roanoke and Lynchburg, he said.
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB