THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 30, 1995 TAG: 9506300451
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Improvements to two congested Chesapeake highways, demanded as part of the Lake Gaston pipeline settlement, were not threatened by the collapse of the bistate pipeline deal this week.
In fact, say Virginia and city officials close to the project, the fate of the two roads was probably helped by all the publicity they received during negotiations between Virginia and North Carolina.
The pipeline agreement between Virginia and North Carolina would have called for ``expediting'' improvements on Virginia Route 168 and U.S. Route 17, two road projects that North Carolina politicians and state officials have been clamoring to have completed.
Construction has already begun on North Carolina's side of Route 168, a hurricane-evacuation route and the main road to the Outer Banks. It is often clogged with summertime tourist traffic, backing up for miles. Chesapeake residents who live along the road have said they are trapped in their homes as a result of the traffic volume.
U.S. Route 17 - a future Norfolk-to-Raleigh highway - has long been a wider road in North Carolina than in Virginia.
When Gov. George F. Allen on Wednesday said he would no longer consider calling a special session of the Virginia General Assembly to approve the Gaston settlement between Virginia and North Carolina, some believed the road projects would fall as well.
But travel on the two roads is unlikely to be hurt or slowed down, according to state transportation officials.
William J. Cannell, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Transportation, said ``expediting the funding on both road projects was more of a formality included in the Lake Gaston pipeline agreement. I don't think this will jeopardize any of those projects.''
No extra funds were to be committed to the roads as a result of an agreement, nor was either project upgraded in priority as a result of an agreement, Cannell said.
On June 22, the Commonwealth Transportation Board approved the state's most recent six-year improvement program for roads. That plan fully funded $20 million for Route 17 and provides preliminary funding for a new or widened Route 168.
The cost of improving Route 168 has yet to be determined. The project could run between $78 million and $121 million, according to Cannell.
That road project is still being delayed by environmental issues as well as problems with how the state and the city of Chesapeake will pay for the project. The city is exploring the option of a private firm building the new road and operating it as a toll road.
``Certainly because of the Gaston agreement, we got a whole lot more momentum and support for the project,'' said Mary Anne Saunders, assistant to the city manager in Chesapeake who has been lobbying for Route 168 funding.
The road received a $10 million allocation from the state last week, which will be added to a prior allocation of $6.3 million. Another $18 million in a toll-revolving fund loan has been earmarked for the road. And the region has pledged $1 million to the project.
``From that standpoint,'' said Saunders, ``there's been a heightened awareness.''
Route 168 is still undergoing environmental review and there is now enough money to finish the preliminary engineering and begin buying up property for a right of way.
Construction on the road could start as early as 1999, state officials said. The environmental review is not expected to be finished until the end of this year.
KEYWORDS: LAKE GASTON WATER SUPPLY PLAN by CNB