ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997 TAG: 9703100001
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SERIES: Southwest Virginia's Lifeline
First of a two-part series
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER THE ROANOKE TIMES
In the New River Valley, interstate highways have been likened to arteries that pump life-giving sustenance into the valley's growing number of industrial parks.
But Interstate 81 and, to the west, Interstate 77 are only part of the story. Industrial parks do not automatically spring up along interstate highways, as shown by their lack along Interstate 64 between Charlottesville and Richmond.
"The roads are important, but they're only a part of the formula for success in economic development," says Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon.
The other parts include utilities for industrial parks - water, sewer, electricity, communications - and agencies to market them to potential tenants, once built.
The 9th Congressional District, which includes the New River Valley, has only 9 percent of the state's population but has created 15 percent of Virginia's new manufacturing jobs the past five years, Boucher says. One reason is that nearly all the district's counties and cities now have industrial parks. Ten years ago, only five did.
In the New River Valley, the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg has more than 65 tenant companies, with more than 1,000 employees and about 70 developable acres left off the U.S. 460 Bypass, said Rod Hall, business services director for the center.
The Pulaski County Corporate Center near Dublin has only 70 of its 270 acres undeveloped. So, in 1993, Pulaski County invested in the former AT&T property near Fairlawn as its next industrial park and now has 520 acres with utilities suitable for development. Last year, Boucher helped secure a $2million Economic Development Administration grant to put a 31,081-square-foot small-business incubator there in the spring.
Boucher also has secured federal funding on utilities for some of the parks. "The company may build a building, but it's not going to build a water system and it's not going to build a sewer system," he said. "If there's a single reason why our growth is so remarkable and we're outpacing the state, I think that's it."
Pulaski County has another 50-acre industrial park southeast of the New River Valley Airport outside Dublin, complete with utilities. A German-based maker of precision housing and wood products is planning to buy acreage there for a plant.
An industrial park that could dwarf all others in the region is under discussion for up to 4,000 acres adjacent to the airport. The proposed Commerce Park could provide the entire region with the capacity to attract industries that require large plant sites, but it might also require regional funding to become a reality. State Sens. Tommy Banker, R-Pulaski County, and Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, coaxed $80,000 from the General Assembly this year to begin planning for the park.
The town of Dublin has 90 acres suitable for development in a separate industrial park on former Burlington Industries property. That park is helping pay for a new Dublin Town Hall and development of a Town Center. Dublin bought 101 acres of the 270-acre former Burlington site and Burlington donated the rest. Dublin now rents the former Burlington buildings to industrial tenants, and that revenue is helping to fund the Town Center development.
In Montgomery County, the Blacksburg Industrial Park at the intersection of South Main Street and U.S. 460 has no more property left for development within the town boundary, but has some acreage still available in the Montgomery County portion of the park.
The Christiansburg Industrial Park off Interstate 81 at the Christiansburg-Montgomery County line has 75 acres available for development. The 52-acre Radford Industrial Center, just off Interstate 81 in the western part of the city, still has 13.4 acres.
Although farther from interstate roads, industrial parks in Giles and Floyd counties are nearly full. The Mountain View Industrial Park in Giles has only 5.7 acres of its 53.5-acre total still available, while the 71.7-acre Floyd County Industrial Park has nine acres available for development with infrastructure.
The NRV Economic Development Alliance has the job of marketing the New River Valley's industrial sites. Stuart Gilbert, the alliance's new executive director, agreed about the need for infrastructure to support industrial parks, but interstate access comes first, he said.
"It's absolutely critical. In the 1900s, it was the rail system," he said. "You will not find a single economic development journal in the country that does not put interstate access among the top seven priorities for more jobs."
"The interstates are very crucial to prospects, one of the first things that they ask about," said Tina Deatherage, marketing and research associate with the Montgomery County Economic Development office.
That is why economic development experts at the state level are predicting success for Montgomery County's newest park, Falling Branch, which is situated on 165 acres near Interstate 81's Exit 118. The park, scheduled for completion in 1999, will have its own interstate interchange. Christiansburg will provide its water and sewer.
It is difficult to judge how much of a difference interstate roads have made in generating and supporting the valley's industrial parks.
"It would be real hard to put a dollar figure on it, but it would be significant," said Assistant Pulaski County Administrator Peter Huber. "And, you know, this area has done well in taking advantage of the interstate location. ... For that to be beneficial, you have to have industrial parks and water and sewer close by," he said.
"Different industries have different requirements. I mean, some of them want visibility from the interstate. Some of them won't mind being 10 miles away," Huber said. "Generally speaking, if there were no interstate within 100 miles of here, I suspect you'd have a different mix of industries."
I-81, Virginia's longest interstate, has become more of a major truck route than its designers expected. It was designed for 15 percent heavy truck traffic. Along some parts of the highway, that traffic amounts to 40 percent.
Its overall traffic count has more than doubled in the past 20 years, but even that can vary from one part to another.
The most recent Department of Transportation figures show 29,000 to 39,000 vehicles a day on I-81 between Pulaski and Christiansburg. In neighboring Wythe County, where the east-west I-81 crosses the north-south Interstate 77, an estimated 40,000 vehicles a day pass through the county.
"The interstates have been invaluable," said Benny Burkett, executive director of the Joint Wythe County Industrial Development Authority. But the key to economic success, he said, is manufacturing jobs. Service industry jobs have their place, but many of them are low-wage jobs.
Wythe has its share of industrial jobs, though. Its most recent coup was October's announcement of a $4.5million expansion at its Morton Powder Plant in Wytheville, which makes powder-based coatings for cars, appliances and other items. The interstates played a role in bringing that plant to Wytheville originally.
Wythe's service jobs are concentrated in motels and restaurants. The county has more than 1,200 motel rooms, supplemented by a new 68-room Hampton Inns Motel which opened Nov. 26 on Peppers Ferry Road. The Yellow Pages in its telephone book list more than 40 restaurants.
There are plans to link some regional facilities as a transportation intermodal hub, a system aimed at easing freight transfers between truck and rail services. It would connect the Dublin Industrial Park with a rail spur at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant and with New River Valley Airport with its adjoining industrial park.
LENGTH: Long : 136 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Gene Dalton. The town of Dublin has converted the oldby CNBBurlington Plant into an industrial park. It is located close to
Interstate 81. color. Graphic. color. map.