Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 13, 1992 TAG: 9202130281
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE and GREG EDWARDS
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
ANGRY LINK-ROAD OPPONENTS CONTINUE FIGHT
Opponents of the Blacksburg-Roanoke direct link feel powerless against the political clout of one of the road's staunchest supporters, and were angered by his comments made earlier this week.But they're writing letters to the governor, anyhow, and to legislators and local officials, urging them to drop the proposed project.
"It seems like we're just shouting into the wind," said Adelia "Dee" Arrington, president of the Ellett Valley Ruritan Club.
"If what we had to say the other night did not sway the Board of Supervisors, then I think that there's not much else we can do."
Arrington and other road foes gathered about 1,000 signatures on petitions against the road last week. They also voiced their opposition at a Montgomery County board meeting Monday night.
Steve Musselwhite, Salem District member of the state Board of Transportation, later hinted that the supervisors would be jeopardizing state funds for another much-needed road if they withdrew support for the link.
The other road is called Alternate 3A, a bypass to the crowded section of U.S. 460 in the fast-growing middle of the county.
The Montgomery supervisors have scheduled a special meeting for Monday at 7 p.m. in the courthouse to ponder the link question.
Three days later, the transportation board is scheduled to vote on the link, called Alternate 6.
Rick Roth, a Virginia Tech graduate student and Blacksburg homeowner, said he was outraged. He's sending packets of information to other transportation board members and state officials, he said, but "I don't know if it'll do any good."
Musselwhite, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the Sixth District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been a major booster of the project.
The six-mile, $100 million-plus road would run from south Blacksburg through Ellett Valley to Interstate 81. It would save six minutes driving time in the future.
He and other backers say the road is vital to economic development by tying the university and satellite research firms in Blacksburg with the larger companies and cultural activities of Roanoke.
The link has received $5 million in federal money to be built as a testing ground for "smart road" technology, using innovative electronics on the road and in vehicles for safer driving.
Supervisor Larry "Nick" Rush is asking the board to withdraw its support because of the high cost and the environmental harm he says its construction will cause. Last year, the previous board passed the second of two resolutions supporting the link.
Chairman Ira Long said he has invited Musselwhite to next week's meeting, as well as Blacksburg and Tech officials. One is Wayne Clough, dean of Tech's engineering school. Clough has been in California this week talking with people there about smart-road technology.
Long, who supports the link, said he felt comments from supporters of the road will clear up the questions some supervisors have about the link.
Citizens will not be invited to speak at the meeting in keeping with the practice of not allowing public comment at special meetings, Long said.
Supervisors from the Blacksburg area say they have been flooded with phone calls and mail about the link, mostly from the road foes.
Opponents seem "a thousand times" more organized than those who support it, said Supervisor Larry Linkous, a new supervisor. However, one Ellett Valley resident called him to say that not everyone in the valley is against the road, Linkous said.
Right now, it appears that Rush could get a vote from Supervisor Jim Moore to kill board support for the link. He had opposed supporting the link before. Three others seem to favor continuing support for at least some sort of direct link.
One board member appears on the fence, and Supervisor Joe Stewart has abstained from the discussion because he owns land near its proposed route.
Supervisor Henry Jablonski, who has voted previously to support the link, told the board Tuesday night that Musselwhite had called him earlier in the day and assured him that the highway department is dedicated to completing Alternate 3A, including a spur from the Christiansburg bypass to I-81.
Jablonski's concerns were further eased by information from Musselwhite that the state had transferred $1 million on Monday toward completion of preliminary engineering studies on both phases of the bypass.
Joe Gorman, a newly elected supervisor from Blacksburg, opposes Rush's motion because it implies the only choice is between one of two roads.
Gorman favors building Alternate 3A all the way to I-81 first, but believes another road between Blacksburg and the interstate will be needed.
That road need not necessarily follow the proposed Alternate 6, but that route appears to be the cheapest and the least damaging to the environment, he said.
Linkous said he wasn't ready to make a decision on how he will vote until he sees a letter from Highway Commissioner Ray Pethtel assuring the county that construction of the link will not slow down construction of the bypass.
Besides, he said, he is hesitant to change something that's already been approved by the board. "I don't like to go back on my word and I feel the county may be doing that."
Along with the county, Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Tech, Roanoke Mayor Noel Taylor and other high-powered officials and businessmen in Roanoke have supported a more direct route from Blacksburg to the Roanoke Valley.
What's at stake, said Tech spokesman Larry Hincker, is an agreement by the various political subdivisions of Montgomery County that would benefit all sections of the county.
"All need to stand together," he said.
Hincker said he's flabbergasted that people still think that Alternate 3A bypass will be able to handle all the traffic that will be flowing into Blacksburg in the next 20 years.
With the backing of Musselwhite, the link has a strong chance of approval by the transportation board next week.
One board member, Edgar Bacon of the Bristol District, said he favors the link based on what Musselwhite has told him.
"We think we ought to be connected on a road that would get us to VPI quicker," said Bacon, who lives in Jonesville. "It would give people in far Southwest Virginia . . . a shorter route to a state college."
He said it's his understanding the link would connect to I-81 south of Christiansburg, perhaps by the Radford exit, and swing up to Tech and then on to Roanoke.
He has not heard a full explanation of the link from the Virginia Department of Transportation staff or consultants, he said.
He said Musselwhite has told him there was some opposition to the link. He added that Musselwhite's recommendation, as the district representative for the project, would weigh heavily in his own decision.
"And whatever he suggests will go a long way because he's such a personable young man," Bacon said.