DATE: Sunday, October 5, 1997               TAG: 9710020713

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A17  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: DECISION '97

SOURCE: BY HOLLY HEYSER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   37 lines

TRANSPORTATION FLAWS COULD IMPEDE PROGRESS

While job training leads Virginia's economic development must-do list, improving transportation isn't far behind.

``The transportation infrastructure has to move our citizens and our goods and services through Virginia safely and efficiently, and it's not doing that,'' said Bud Oakey, vice president of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce.

``U.S. 220 is a perfect example,'' he said. ``It's a 1940s-designed road, built in the 1950s and handling 1990s traffic.''

One area trucking company estimates that poor conditions on Route 220 hurt fuel efficiency enough to add $40,000 a year to its fuel costs, he said.

Oakey's organization has identified $3 billion in needed improvements to highways alone in the Roanoke area - and that doesn't include railroads and airports.

And Hampton Roads needs at least $6 billion to $9 billion in transportation improvements, according to a coalition of business and civic leaders.

Business and industry leaders say transportation deficiencies threaten to derail Virginia's successful job recruitment efforts.

But they're not the only ones who are concerned about the state of transportation here - after all, everyone shares the roads.

``We need to get really serious about building a metro (subway),'' Chesapeake resident Eileen Huey said in a recent citizen forum.

``Just building more and more roads and more and more high-occupancy vehicle lanes is ridiculous. That just brings more carbon monoxide.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

ELECTION '97

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

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