THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 11, 1995 TAG: 9512110065
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
Now that Congress has passed the National Highway System bill, the Commonwealth Transportation Board must decide when the Virginia part of new Interstate 73 will be built.
I-73 will stretch from north-central Michigan to Charleston, S.C. In Virginia, the road will run from Bluefield in the west, follow U.S. 460 to Blacksburg, I-81 and I-581 to Roanoke, and U.S. 220 past Martinsville to North Carolina.
Western Virginia business leaders want the road built as soon as possible. I-73 is now the top transportation priority of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Virginia's share of the $6.5 billion allocated annually for U.S. roads by the National Highway System bill is $150 million. The state must add $30 million of its own.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board, a group of 16 gubernatorial appointees, decides how to spend the federal dollars.
In addition to the I-73 completion, other projects await - including the widening of I-81 from Buchanan to Christiansburg.
``I'm certain people want to know when (I-73 will be built),'' said Lorinda Lionberger, the Salem Transportation District's representative on the Commonwealth Transportation Board. ``I think we all would like to see some funding develop.''
The board's six-year improvement plan includes $250,000 in the current budget year for preliminary engineering work on I-73. That amount, however, is only a small part of what is needed for planning.
Virginia Secretary of Transportation Robert Martinez told the Roanoke Times that even if I-73 were the only project the state were working on, it would take four or five years of planning before any construction could begin. The decision on the road's alignment will require many public hearings, he said.
The state's first estimate of the cost of building I-73 was $1.25 billion, but that was made before a plan to take the road over Bent Mountain was abandoned.
KEYWORDS: ROAD CONSTRUCTION by CNB