ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, April 10, 1997               TAG: 9704100038
SECTION: EDITORIAL                PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO 

A PAUCITY OF POTHOLES

Truckers rate Interstate 81 among the best in the country.

POTHOLES can be a problem, a big problem. More frequent repairs and lower gas mileage, figures one expert, make it 40 percent more expensive to drive on a pothole-ridden road than a smooth one.

In this era of cost-conscious competitiveness, that's important not just for private cars but also for the big business of moving goods by truck from producer to customer.

In a recent survey of 4,000 truckers by Overdrive magazine, Interstate 81 from Winchester to Roanoke was rated fifth best in the United States for smoothness and absence of other roadway hazards.

As motorists trying to negotiate the truck-packed road can attest, such high regard is not an unmixed blessing. But it does help explain the Roanoke Valley's growing economic niche as a regional distribution center.

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