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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990                   TAG: 9006130588
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RAIL LINK TO LANDFILL CONSIDERED

Garbage may be transported by railroad cars to the proposed new regional landfill in Roanoke County rather than by trucks on a proposed road over Fort Lewis Mountain.

Consultants will investigate the possibility of a railroad link to the new landfill when they study the costs for transporting trash and the feasibility of transfer stations.

John Hubbard, assistant administrator for Roanoke County, said today that Norfolk Southern Corp. is interested in the idea, but the talks are only in the conceptual stage at this point.

Cost estimates and detailed plans have not been developed, Hubbard said.

The concept involves the construction of a rail siding from NS' main line at Ironto to the Smith's Gap site for the landfill. Garbage would be loaded on rail cars at a transfer station along the railroad line in the Roanoke Valley and then would be shipped to the landfill.

Consultant John Olver said that it might be cheaper to transport trash by rail rather than building a road over the mountain.

Olver said that trash is being transported by rail in several areas in the country, usually for long hauls to landfills in rural areas.

To avoid the use of Bradshaw Road for garbage trucks, county officials are considering the construction of a road over the mountain to reach the new landfill. Cost estimates for the road have ranged from $9 million to $15 million.

The regional landfill board decided today to ask Olver for an estimate of the cost for a study of transportation alternatives for the new landfill and the feasibility of transfer stations.

If transfer stations are established for moving garbage from regular collection trucks to railroad cars or tractor trailers to be transported to the landfill, the Roanoke Valley localities will need to obtain a state permit similar to one that is required for landfills.

"You have to go through the same drill for transfer stations as for landfill sites," said John Parrott, board chairman. "If we are going to have transfer stations, we are a year behind [in seeking a state permit]."

The county has already applied for a permit for the Smith's Gap site for the landfill.

Kit Kiser, Roanoke's director of utilities and operations, said the localities need a consultants' study on the transportation costs for the alternatives that are available for transporting to the landfill.

One alternative would be to use regular collector trucks to haul garbage to the landfill with no transfer stations, Kiser said. Another option would be the construction of a transfer station for garbage collected by the localities, but private haulers would carry trash directly to the landfill.

A third alternative would call for transfer stations for all trash that would be hauled by large trucks to the landfill. The rail access would be a fourth option.

by CNB