WHITE XS ARE TARGETS FOR AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 26, 1992                   TAG: 9202260174
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short
WHITE XS ARE TARGETS FOR AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS
Large white Xs are appearing on the ground in Montgomery County.
These aren't marks of some secret group or unknown civilization. The Xs are targets placed in strategic locations that can be identified in aerial photographs.
By March 15, photographers from the Virginia Department of Transportation will be flying over Montgomery, Roanoke and Botetourt counties. The targets will help them take pictures that will be used in planning upcoming construction projects, including the Blacksburg-to-Roanoke link road.
"Aerial photography needs to be done when the leaves are off the trees," said Fred Altizer Jr., the Transportation Department's Salem District administrator. "We get the best sun angle and fewer shadows when we take our pictures between Jan. 1 and March 31."
The Blacksburg engineering firm of Anderson & Associates is placing the Xs in Montgomery County along the Alternative 6 route, which was chosen by the state Transportation Board for the Blacksburg-to-Roanoke "smart highway." Property owners where Xs are placed will be notified by letter.
Photographers also will shoot the second-phase portion of the Alternative 3A route, the U.S. 460 bypass to be built between Blacksburg and Christiansburg. This phase of the project will connect the new bypass to Interstate 81 at a new interchange south of Exit 118.
For more information, call Laura Bullock at 387-5493.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB