ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990                   TAG: 9004100563
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SAVE RURAL AREAS FROM ROAD'S IMPACT

DISCUSSIONS of the traffic problems in the Blacksburg-Christiansburg corridor, and of the direct link to Roanoke, have said too little about the impact of some of the proposed solutions on rural Montgomery County, that lovely countryside that many of us up here treasure.

The solution that does not impact that countryside, and the one that I favor, is a new road parallel to 460 between the towns and continuing on as a direct link to Interstate 81 in Christiansburg. It would also give access to the rest of Southwest Virginia.

The two routes along the North Roanoke River would forever change that valley, putting a high-speed road, with all its problems - highway runoff, air and noise pollution - smack down one of the remaining relatively unspoiled stretches of the river. No highway is "smart" enough to avoid those problems.

The route apparently favored by the local power structure (parallel to State 641) would also cut through a rural piece of the county, and it would do nothing for the 460 corridor or for access to the Southwest. It would only serve Blacksburg's pride, and is that any reason for building a road? DAVID A. WEST BLACKSBURG 


 by CNB