
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 17, 1994                    TAG: 9406170564 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B5    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: SUFFOLK 
DATELINE: 940617                                 LENGTH: Short

WAIT FOR BYPASS COULD BE SHORTER

{LEAD} The long-awaited Southwest Bypass, Suffolk's top transportation priority, may contain four lanes instead of two, and its construction could begin in 1996 rather than 1998, according to an announcement Wednesday before the City Council.

The bypass has been included in the tentative allocation funding by the Virginia Department of Transportation, according to Thomas G. Hines, Suffolk director for public works. The Commonwealth Transportation Board is expected to announce their road priorities later this month.

Suffolk has been working since 1965 to get the bypass completed. The new route will divert thousands of tractor-trailers away from downtown Suffolk and allow local merchants and the city to begin revitalizing that area.

Downtown traffic is sometimes snarled by truck traffic. Last year, a truck filled with pig parts overturned in downtown Suffolk, spilling its 700-pound payload onto Main Street.

The city recently announced that its new courthouse facility will be built downtown and has begun efforts to revitalize the business district.

by CNB