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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 30, 1994                   TAG: 9403300156
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

COMPUTERIZED IMAGE OF BRIDGE SHOCKS MEETING

Observers said it was a big meeting for the New River Valley Environmental Coalition, and no wonder: the topic was a proposed road.

After all the New River Valley controversy over the proposed Interstate 73 route through the region, a computer simulation showing a huge bridge spanning Ellett Valley - part of the proposed Alternate 6 "smart road" route - brought citizens out Monday night. Micheal O'Brien, a Virginia Tech graduate student, presented his computerized simulation of what proposed road option 6A would look like.

The proposed road would run through rugged terrain to Interstate 81, which would require filling in valleys and cutting through mountains, O'Brien said.

But perhaps drawing the biggest gasp from the group gathered at the Virginia Tech Museum of Natural History was O'Brien's version of a 1,000-foot bridge that would span Wilson Creek.

The bridge, long and stark, was shown running right next to a bucolic old barn.

"It's been argued this doesn't closely represent what's possible," O'Brien said.

Initially, O'Brien's picture showed a vertical span with column supports every 50 feet. Then he spaced them out to every 100 feet. After Monday's presentation, O'Brien said the columns might be moved to 135 to 175 feet apart.

The bridge, however, would probably not have the stark appearance shown by the simulation, said Dan Brugh, the Virginia Department of Transportation engineer in Christiansburg. An arched span is more likely, he said.

"The image itself does get people's attention," said O'Brien, who was paid $700 by the environmental group to draw up the computerized study.

O'Brien's study of visual impacts concludes that the proposed road would have "significant" impacts on the surrounding area. Motorists would have a "low quality" experience on that road compared with a drive through other parts of the region. He suggested that proposed option 3A, which would connect the U.S. 460 bypasses at Christiansburg and Blacksburg, would be much more visually pleasing than the smart road route - which could eventually tie in to a proposed I-73.

Both options 3A and 6 run into I-81, about 3.5 miles apart.

by CNB