Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 12, 1992 TAG: 9202120296
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS and CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
HIGHWAY PLAN CHALLENGED
If Montgomery County withdraws its support for the proposed Blacksburg- Roanoke link, it could lose state backing for another new road that has already been approved: a bypass to traffic-choked U.S. 460.The Board of Supervisors has a resolution before it that would rescind the county's support for the direct link and urge the state's continued funding for the bypass.
But Steve Musselwhite, the Salem District's member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board and a supporter of the link, said Tuesday that if the county pulls out of an earlier agreement to endorse both roads, he would look "very seriously" at whether the state should continue with the bypass.
Musselwhite of Vinton said he's not making threats but is disturbed that the county would back away "at the 11th hour."
"That's not the way you do deals," he said.
In April 1989, Musselwhite arranged a compromise among Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Montgomery County and Virginia Tech to support building both the new U.S. 460 bypass and the direct link - or shortcut, rather - to Roanoke. Until the compromise, Christiansburg and Blacksburg had disagreed on which road should be built first.
The bypass is needed to relieve congestion along U.S. 460 in rapidly growing north Christiansburg and between the two towns.
The link has been proposed as a way to improve economic ties between Blacksburg and the Roanoke Valley as well as a testing ground for "smart road" technology, designed to make driving safer. Such technology could take many forms, ranging from electronic road signs that warn drivers of upcoming traffic hazards to computerized on-board systems that would keep cars apart at high speed.
The transportation board is to meet in Richmond Feb. 20 to decide on a route for a direct link. The preferred route, designated Alternate 6, is a 6-mile stretch that cuts from south Blacksburg to Interstate 81 a few miles north of Exit 37.
Although it would not be a direct road between Roanoke and Blacksburg, it would cut a few minutes off the current travel time.
Backers of the link, including Virginia Tech officials, were busy contacting other backers Tuesday, urging them to call their supervisors and voice their support for the link.
Tech spokesman Larry Hincker told Blacksburg Chamber of Commerce that saving the link from possible extinction was a matter of extreme urgency.
Opposition to the link has been building among some Montgomery County residents over the project's estimated $100 million-plus cost and its impact on the environment. Much of the proposed route would pass through sparsely populated Ellett Valley as well as agricultural land the county has designated for open space.
Newly elected Supervisor Larry "Nick" Rush asked his fellow supervisors Monday to approve a resolution withdrawing support for the link because of "financial and environmental considerations." The resolution also asks the state to consider changing the smart-road technology tests to the 460 bypass, known as Alternate 3A.
"We're pushing something down people's throats they don't want," said Rush, who represents the portion of the county through which the link would run.
Several people spoke against the road at a Monday meeting of the Board of Supervisors, including members of the New River Environmental Coalition and the local chapter of the Sierra Club. Supervisors postponed action but indicatedthey might hold a special meeting before the transportation board meets next week.
Rush doubted that building the road would bring businesses flocking to Montgomery County. "I have a problem with this `Field of Dreams' mentality," he said.
But Board Chairman Ira Long said he was worried that if the board withdraws support from the link, the highway department may kill plans to build Alternate 3A.
Musselwhite, however, said he was confident the problems could be overcome. He said he is willing to take out a proposed interchange in the heart of Ellett Valley that road opponents say would open the valley to unwanted development.
The first phase of building Alternate 3A would connect the Christiansburg and Blacksburg 460 bypasses, running parallel to U.S. 460.
The second phase would connect the Christiansburg bypass with I-81 at an interchange near Falling Branch Road. This phase, or spur, would be built later, at an estimated cost of $30 million.
While Long worried that not supporting the link would hurt the chances for the new bypass, some supervisors said that building the link would kill the spur anyway, which they consider a key portion of the project.
Supervisor Henry Jablonski pointed out that Blacksburg, in its latest resolution, supported the bypass but had specifically withdrawn support for the spur.
And Dan Brugh, the Department of Transportation's resident engineer in Montgomery County, told the board that construction of the direct link will take some of the traffic load off the Christiansburg bypass and forestall the need to build the extension to I-81.
That worried Jablonski, whose constituents live in Western Montgomery County and would benefit from the new interchange.
Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth said Tuesday that highway department engineers have come out with a lot more information, and that as one member of council, he would consider rethinking support of the spur.
"We would have it in whatever form the highway engineers themselves favor it," said Hedgepeth, an ardent and longstanding proponent of the direct link.
"I feel a personal disappointment" if the county backs out now, he said. Beyond that, he said, the supervisors need to think hard about the county's long-term future.
At the county's meeting Monday, Supervisor Larry Linkous of Blacksburg said he also could not support the link if it means delaying Alternate 3A's connection with the interstate. That wasn't the understanding the county had when it made the compromise, he said.
But Musselwhite said the link would not eliminate the need for the spur. "The only thing that would delay that being built would be the dollars to do it," Musselwhite said.
Blacksburg's resolution excluding support of the spur also alarmed Musselwhite. The state doesn't want to get caught up in a local squabble among political subdivisions, he said.
Highway commissioner Ray Pethtel would not say how the county's last-minute reconsideration might affect the transportation board's decision on either the link or the bypass. But he said that the board gives a lot of weight to recommendations from the member whose district a project is in.
"I wish it were up and running right now, because we certainly have a national spotlight on that area," he said. Many transportation researchers around the country are waiting to see whether the "smart road" will be built, he said.