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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 25, 1994                   TAG: 9403250216
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By SHIREEN I. PARSONS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DON'T INVITE NORTHERN VIRGINIA-STYLE URBAN SPRAWL HERE

THE NOTION of routing the Virginia portion of proposed Interstate 73 through the New River Valley to Roanoke is a bad one. Blacksburg Town Council and the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, based on inadequate information and without public involvement, prematurely endorsed constructing I-73 along the U.S. 460 corridor from Bluefield to Blacksburg, and then to U.S. 220 near Roanoke via either the proposed ``smart road'' (which also has wide public opposition) and I-81 or through the Mount Tabor area and Catawba Valley (Alternates 6A and 6, respectively). Recently, due to public outrage, the board rescinded its endorsement of Alternate 6, and Town Council decided it wouldn't support any route through Blacksburg. Recognizing the detrimental effects to Narrows, Pearisburg, Pembroke and Newport, the Giles County Board of Supervisors also voted to oppose Alternate 6/6A.

Construction of Alternate 6/6A will cost at least twice as much as Alternate 4 (on existing I-77), which is the most direct route. Both the smart-road segment and the Mount Tabor-Catawba segment are through steep, mountainous, fragile karst terrain. Alternate 6 would require upgrading two-lane roads to a six- to eight-lane highway, probably with a tunnel through Paris Mountain. Alternate 6A would require constructing a new six- to eight-lane highway through Ellett Valley along the planned route for the smart road (which is supposed to be two to four lanes, and which Virginia Tech would close to traffic periodically for research testing).

Construction of either alternates would forever degrade the natural environment, scenic beauty and unique character of the New River Valley.

For the most part, proponents of Alternate 6/6A have been Roanoke and Blacksburg developers and business interests, Tech's administration and public officials who serve these special interests. Falling in step behind those special interests, the Commonwealth Transportation Board has now recommended Alternate 6/6A to the U.S. Congress as Virginia's preferred route for I-73. Economic development is the rallying cry, and, as is so often the case, this means financial gain for a few to the detriment of everyone else. Highways don't bring economic development. They bring ugly urban sprawl, an increase in crime and environmental pollution to localities through which they pass.

I've lived in the New River Valley for more than three years. I'm a refugee from Northern Virginia in the Washington metropolitan area, where I grew up. I remember Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun counties when they were flat versions of the New River Valley counties; when Fairfax City, Manassas and Leesburg had the same small-town charm and rural surroundings we enjoy here; and Tysons Corner was a gas station and a hamburger joint.

Now, this same Northern Virginia area is a monument to those who rallied to the cry of economic development decades ago. Those small towns have been engulfed by urban sprawl. The maze of highways is clogged with traffic 24 hours a day. The air's so foul that people are often advised to stay indoors on hot summer days when emissions from all those cars form a pall over the region. Crime rates approach those of Washington, D.C., and Richmond. Some people got rich, but the cost of living for everyone has soared and the quality of life has declined immeasurably. And, still, blocks of glittering new office buildings remain empty.

It's now up to Congress to consider the state's recommended routes for connecting Detroit and Charleston. Lawmakers can expect to be inundated with calls and letters from Giles, Montgomery and Roanoke county residents who reject the vision of short-term gain for a few and who intend to protect the true assets of this unique region. They also can expect to hear from Virginians statewide, urging them to ensure that our tax dollars will not be spent on these circuitous, environmentally damaging alternative routes for I-73.

Shireen I. Parsons of Blacksburg is information officer at the Virginia Water Resources Research Center at Virginia Tech.

by CNB