ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Transportation in an effort to stop the "smart" road in Montgomery County.
Shireen Parsons, chairwoman of the local Sierra Club chapter, charged in a suit filed in May that building the experimental road is beyond the jurisdiction of state and federal transportation authorities.
But before it went to trial, Chief U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser ruled that Parsons had failed to show how the road would injure her. Private citizens who sue must claim some personal injury and not just make generalized claims.
Parsons, who filed the lawsuit without an attorney, said she sued the governmental bodies as an individual and not under the umbrella of the Sierra Club or any other environmental organization because she wanted to take action quickly.
The smart road is a proposed 6-mile link between southern Blacksburg and Interstate 81 that is being promoted as a proving ground for transportation research and a way to bring national recognition to Virginia Tech. The first two miles of the road, estimated by the Virginia Department of Transportation to cost about $27.1 million, would be used as a test bed for that research.
Parsons contends that the test bed benefits private interests and not the general public.
Another federal suit, filed by the national Sierra Club, the New River Valley Greens and the New River Valley Environmental Coalition, asks the court to order highway planners to prepare a more detailed environmental impact statement.
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB