Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 4, 1992 TAG: 9203040246
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Supporters of a high-technology "smart road" that would lessen the travel time between Blacksburg and Roanoke watched as funding for their project went through a General Assembly turnstile - out in the Senate, back in during a House Appropriations Committee meeting.
At the same time, a second U.S. 460 bypass between Blacksburg and Christiansburg went through the same revolving door. It was included in a last-minute amendment from Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, then kicked out again in the House committee meeting.
Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke, said little to the Appropriations Committee Tuesday afternoon; he just offered an amendment that reversed Marye's and sat back down. The issue was to be taken up in the House Finance Committee this morning.
"The smart road is too important to the New River and Roanoke valleys to allow four years of progress to be skewed by an 11th-hour amendment," said Steve Musselwhite, Salem District member on the state Board of Transportation. "The economic development potential, job opportunities and future research capabilities of Virginia Tech will fall with this amendment."
But to Marye, D-Shawsville, smart-road technology just isn't as important as reducing traffic along the U.S. 460 corridor.
"In Montgomery County, there is a need for completing the bypass," Marye said. "To me, this is a No. 1 priority, and I'd hoped to put the money into it."
Indeed, Marye's Senate amendment replaced $28 million in a road bond bill for the smart road with $28 million for the bypass.
The smart road is so-named because it would be used as a testing ground for electronic measures to improve driving safety - such as pavement sensors that monitor road conditions and flash warnings to motorists, or on-board computers that guide cars. Some of those systems would be developed at Tech.
The new U.S. 460 bypass, on the other hand, would be an ordinary road designed to improve the traffic flow between Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
That bypass, which is estimated to cost $53 million, already was scheduled for funding over the next six years through the Department of Transportation, according to supporters of the smart road. Smart-road backers said they did not understand why the 460 bypass would need extra funding through a bond referendum.
However, Dan Brugh, resident engineer for the Department of Transportation, said funding the 460 bypass partly with bonds would take some of the financial burden off the department.
"But at the same token, that leaves the smart road totally out in cold with no funding," Brugh said. "And whether or not you agree with the road being built, that sort of technology is something we really need to work on."
From the beginning, supporters have said the smart road would have to be funded by some type of "creative financing," said John Lambert, a Roanoke public relations executive who is on the committee of business, university and government representatives pushing for the link. "One example of that is a bond referendum."
Marye said funding the 460 bypass through the bonds would allow it to be built more quickly. "We don't want to wait six years," he said.
If the bill were to provide money for both projects, it would be overloaded, he said. "Of course, that's what happened anyway. Too many of these projects will make the bill unappealing to the public."
The road funding is included in a roughly half-million-dollar transportation bond issue that would be financed by a 2-cent-per-gallon increase in the gasoline tax, if voters approve in a Nov. 3 referendum.
Marye said he still supports smart-road technology. "It would be a wonderful thing, and we'd like to find a place to put that," he said. "It would mean a lot to future generations."
But you can't have smart-road technology without a smart road, said Larry Hincker, a Tech spokesman.
Only the proposed Roanoke-Blacksburg direct link "will provide the proper mix of traffic, topography, speed conditions and isolation that would justify the VDOT [state] and federal funding," Hincker said. "We've visited this all before."
Tech officials and other road supporters spent Tuesday calling legislators, trying to clear things up.
Staff writer Mark Layman contributed information to this story.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.