Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 20, 1992 TAG: 9202200280
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
STATE BOARD SEEMS LIKELY TO OK `SMART ROAD'
The Blacksburg-to-Roanoke "smart road" got rave reviews from transportation officials Wednesday, and likely will be approved at today's meeting of the state Board of Transportation."The neat thing about it . . . is it signifies a futuristic approach to transportation needs," said Steve Musselwhite, Salem District member of the board and a passionate direct-link highway supporter.
Secretary of Transportation John Milliken and Transportation Commissioner Ray Pethtel were also gung-ho about the project - touted as the first of its kind in the country.
At a workshop to discuss road projects coming up on today's agenda, board members made few comments during a half-hour presentation on the proposed link. None appeared to oppose it.
Musselwhite later said he was confident he had full backing on the link. The board is scheduled to vote today on the location of the Blacksburg/Roanoke link.
The preferred route, the only one seriously being considered, is a five-mile stretch from south Blacksburg to Interstate 81, about 2 1/2 miles north of Exit 37. The four-lane road would cost about $81 million and is estimated to save about six minutes of travel, accounting for increasing traffic, in the year 2015. An additional $27 million or so would make it a "smart" road.
Pethtel told the board he has led a committee that for the past year and a half has studied the concept of turning the proposed link into a test bed for Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems.
The technology incorporates radar, fiber optics and other sophisticated electronics on board and in the road, all geared toward safer, speedier travel.
The Blacksburg/Roanoke link would be the first to be built from the ground up using Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems, Pethtel said. It has drawn national attention from transportation researchers eager to test their ideas and products.
The first two lanes would include some of the technology and would be open to regular traffic. The Transportation Department estimates that up 10,000 trips per day would be made on those lanes by the mid-1990s.
The other two lanes would be built in stages over 15 years, incorporating the latest technology as it is developed. They probably would be open only on a limited basis during that time, Pethtel said.
After 20 years, the four-lane highway would be complete and carry up to 22,000 vehicles daily. "The test component would be finished, and we'd move onto other sites, presumably in the area, for further test beds," he said.
Milliken stressed to the board that the bulk of money for the link would come from "non-traditional" sources, such as a bond issue, federal grants and private corporations. It would not compete for limited funds with other projects in the Salem highway district or elsewhere in the state.
Congress late last year earmarked $5.9 million toward the project, and Milliken said the "smart" road almost certainly would get more from the federal government.
Milliken and Pethtel - chairman and vice-chairman of the board respectively - would vote only in the event of a tie among the remaining 14 board members.
Musselwhite acknowledged that the project has drawn public opposition, mostly since a draft environmental impact statement was released last fall.
Much of the opposition focused on an interchange along the link in the heart of rural Ellett Valley, which citizens said would pave the way for unwanted development.
Musselwhite told the board he plans to recommend at today's meeting that the interchange be dropped from the plan, which should address the majority of the public's concerns, he said.
Other environmental concerns that have been raised, including potential ground water pollution, disturbing wildlife and possibly endangered species habitat, can be avoided or mitigated in the design of the road, Pethtel assured the board.
One member, Bristol District representative Edgar Bacon, said he hoped some day to see a road running southwest from Blacksburg to the interstate near the Radford exit.
Bacon, directing his comment to Musselwhite, said the citizens of far Southwest Virginia need quicker access to Virginia Tech, the largest university in the state.
"I'll help support you on that if you help support me on this," Musselwhite told him. It was a candid demonstration of the art of making deals and reaching compromises, which Musselwhite, in an interview earlier Wednesday, said is "plain horse sense" in getting projects done.
Musselwhite recently had come under fire from link opponents for his part in orchestrating, three years ago, a compromise between Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
Blacksburg wanted a direct link - seen as key to future economic growth for Tech and the town - and Christiansburg wanted a bypass to the traffic-choked U.S. 460. Musselwhite helped the two towns agree to back one another's project, and so got a favorable response from the transportation board.
"We're not going to put money where people are fighting," he said.