Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 7, 1990 TAG: 9004070439
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: ABINGDON LENGTH: Medium
The project itself still has unanimous support from the region, but localities differed on details.
Del. G.C. Jennings, D-Marion, told state transportation officials he was disappointed at a suggestion for diverting U.S. 58 traffic onto Interstates 81 and 77 instead of following its current route through mountainous Grayson County and the Damascus area of Washington County.
"Those of us who supported it would not have supported it if we thought it was going to bypass Grayson County and Damascus," Jennings said.
He said it is people who live elsewhere, but have property in Grayson for retirement or vacation homes and want to keep the county isolated, who have been writing letters against four-laning U.S. 58 through some of the county. Other landowners, he said, have been told they might lose their homes or farms to the project.
"It's a scare campaign," he said. "But I am telling you, the people who live there want that road and they want a four-lane road."
John Roger, a Grayson County resident, took issue with that. He said many who live in Grayson would like to see U.S. 58 improved but not necessarily all four-laned.
Grayson County Administrator Don Young and acting Washington County Administrator Joe Howard said governing bodies in their counties supported four-laning U.S. 58 over its existing route.
But Wytheville Mayor Carl Stark, who is also president of the Great Lakes to Florida Highway Association, said his area would not mind U.S. 58 traffic being routed on the combined six-lane Interstate 81-77 through Wythe County if the already-crowded highway could handle it.
"We wouldn't have any objection to that other than . . . it would increase the traffic," he said. "You may have to go from six lanes to eight lanes or something like that."
State Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, unable to attend the hearing due to another commitment, sent a note saying his main concern was to keep U.S. 58 on its Grayson County route.
State Sen. John Buchanan, D-Wise, said the logical place to start the four-laning would be in Lee County, the state's westernmost county. Del. Jack Kennedy, D-Norton, and state Sen. William C. Wampler Jr., R-Bristol, both said the U.S. 58 project would help their regions develop.
Southwest Virginians tried to present a united front at the hearing on how they wanted their road money spent in the coming fiscal year.
But while localities in each of the Bristol District's three planning areas agreed on what major projects they supported, many of them added their own individual wants lists as in the past.
John G. Milliken, the state's new Commonwealth Transportation Board chairman, said the amount of future federal highway funding remains an open question. The Bush administration wants to cut back federal participation, but Gov. Douglas Wilder is working toward getting Congress to re-enact the Federal Surface Transportation Act.
Virginia believes the state and federal governments should continue to be partners in coping with transportation needs, Milliken said.
"We want Congress to give us back the federal gasoline tax money they are holding - money that is rightfully yours. There is currently a $179 million apportionment balance in the trust fund made up of gasoline taxes you and I have already paid, that the federal government is holding to make the deficit look smaller. We want that money released so we can use it for highway improvements in our state, and we will continue to pressure Washington until we get that money back," he said.
If federal funds are scaled back, he said, "the result would be either fewer improvements or a greater burden on state taxpayers."
Phil Tobleman, representing the Factory Merchants Mall in Wythe County, requested consideration of a ramp into the mall area off the Interstate 81-77. He noted the nearest exit at Fort Chiswell is already congested, and said that is likely to increase as the mall increases its store occupancy from its current 40 percent.
Del. Jennings and Tom Taylor, executive director of the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission, both suggested consideration of bringing Virginia 107 from Saltville into the coalfields to provide more direct access from Interstate 81.
Tazewell County brought the largest single delegation and also went high-tech in its presentation of its road needs, showing them on a videotape viewed by the state officials on four television monitors around the hearing room at Virginia Highlands Community College.
"How long is it?" Bristol District Administrator Jack Corley asked Tazewell County Roads Committee spokesman Tom Cash, who announced the videotape presentation.
"It's only an hour and 15 minutes, sir," Cash said with a straight face.
The tape lasted about 10 minutes, and Cash asked afterward when Tazewell County could expect action on its requests.
"We'll send you a video," Corley said.
by CNB