DATE: Wednesday, May 14, 1997               TAG: 9705130014

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial

                                            LENGTH:   56 lines

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY UNTAPPED RESOURCE

Virginia has long had a certain smugness about its admittedly considerable assets. With quality historic and natural attractions such as Monticello and the Chesapeake Bay, Appomattox and the Blue Ridge Mountains, many residents have been content to let the state's virtues speak for themselves.

State tourism efforts have burgeoned in recent years, but self-promotion is still equated by some with risk and with a degree of ill-bred tackiness. This is a mindset best dropped.

One reason is contained in a recent study of the economic impact of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The report, conducted at North Carolina State University and Virginia Tech, found that the Blue Ridge Parkway generates 13,000 jobs and $291 million annually as it passes through 217 miles of Virginia. The highway's yield is more than five times greater, 75,000 jobs and $1.67 billion in annual economic benefits, along its 252-mile North Carolina stretch.

To a degree, this gap might be explained by topographical differences, such as higher elevations - and thereby, possibly loftier vistas - in North Carolina. Or it might be influenced by the fact that the parkway goes through the heart of a city such as Asheville, but is some miles removed from downtown Roanoke.

Some promoters of the Virginia parkway question whether the economic gap is as startling as the recent study suggests. It might even be that another analysis would find less striking differences.

But even if the economic gap is less, the study demands a reevaluation by the state and those counties bordering the parkway. Virginia is further along than North Carolina in working with developers to protect the landscape, but the state has been less aggressive in pursuing some federal funds and programs that might heighten the desirability of the parkway to tourists. That gap should close.

For instance, North Carolina received $750,000 in federal funds last October to help purchase conservation easements along the parkway. Such easements protect against development or unsightly vistas. Virginia, which is notoriously behind other states in seeking federal grant money in a variety of areas, apparently did not compete for these funds either.

Two years ago, Virginia also stayed out of the competition when the Federal Highway Administration was designating stretches for its All-American Roads program.

After aggressive lobbying, the North Carolina section of the parkway won the designation. No similar effort was mounting in Virginia.

Even so subtle an action as North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt's designation of 1996 as ``The Year of the Mountains'' could impact economic returns along the highway.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is an economic, as well as a psychic resource. It should be valued as such. Many individuals are working to protect and enhance the parkway. But more is needed, both to preserve the natural beauty and to promote the highway as an attraction worth visiting.

With millions of tourist dollars at stake, there's no good reason for Virginia to be collecting so little of the pot.

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