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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 30, 1993                   TAG: 9304300180
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE BYPASSED BY RAIL PLAN

But that's not the way federal railroad planners see it.

Turns out that one of five high-speed rail corridors earmarked for funding by the Clinton Administration runs south through Richmond to Raleigh, N.C., before heading west toward Greensboro and Charlotte.

"If you're going to go to Raleigh, it's tough to go to Roanoke," state Secretary of Transportation John Milliken said Thursday.

The $1 billion federal program unveiled Wednesday, first contemplated under the Bush administration, will be targeted to projects that serve two or more major metropolitan areas that are no more than 600 miles apart.

Under the Clinton plan, federal funds would go first to projects with substantial private investment.

States would be responsible for planning and funding high-speed rail systems.

Virginia already has begun: Last year, the General Assembly agreed to spend $500,000 upgrading the corridor between Richmond and Washington, Virginia's primary high-speed rail route.

Milliken described the Clinton plan as putting "more emphasis on ungrading existing corridors . . . less glitz and more practical things."

The Clinton high-speed rail plan should not derail efforts by Roanoke Mayor David Bowers to route conventional Amtrak service through the valley, Milliken said.

Bowers, who's made tourism a key part of his agenda, envisions rail service connecting Roanoke and Richmond with Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tenn.

Wednesday, Bowers expressed hopes Amtrak might be able to add Roanoke to its schedule before Atlanta hosts the Olympic Games in 1996, but then conceded such a move was too optimistic.

Milliken agreed, and credited Bowers for his evident patience:

"That's one of the reasons we are willing to work with him, because he is taking the longer view," Milliken said. "I'm not building for next Tuesday. I'm building for 10 years from now, or more."