Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 18, 1994 TAG: 9402180194
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Gov. George Allen wrote a letter telling Jack Smith, General Motors chief executive officer, that the first two miles of the six-mile link would be built if the state and automaker win a $150 million federal grant to build prototype "smart cars."
In a reversal of the state's position, Secretary of Transportation Robert Martinez said the two-mile portion of the road - estimated to cost $9 million - would be funded out of the state's general six-year road construction funds.
All along, state officials have maintained that the smart road would not compete for state money with other local road projects, such as the proposed bypass from Christiansburg to Blacksburg. Instead, they said money for the project would come from nontraditional sources such as federal grants or a state bond issue, funds harder to come by.
"We have not committed to funding the entire [six-mile] project that way," Martinez said.
That small portion of the road - which could be completed by 1997 - would be used as a test bed for the Federal Highway Administration Project, said Antoine Hobeika, director of Virginia Tech's Center for Transportation.
"But we hope it will have a snowball effect, so the entire road can be built," Hobeika said.
Hobeika talked about Allen's letter to Smith and the federal research project at a news conference Thursday.
Ray Pethtel, Virginia transportation commissioner, said last month that the state would team with GM and several other companies to apply for the project to demonstrate an automated highway system.
Congress has requested that the project be completed within three years. The smart cars would contain computers, video displays and other technology to improve safety, move traffic faster and keep drivers from getting lost. The vehicles would communicate with electronic sensors in the road.
Guidelines for the federal project require a transportation agency, automaker, highway design firm and vehicle electronics company to be involved in any consortium that applies for the funds.
Hobeika said GM officials called him Thursday morning inviting state officials to visit the company's Detroit headquarters and discuss the project.
"We don't have a full agreement in hand, but there is a commitment to work with us," Hobeika said. "We just don't know how much."
Farradyne Systems Inc., an electronics company in Rockville, Md., that specializes in intelligent vehicle highway systems, also will be included on the team headed by GM.
"I think the biggest thing helping Virginia in this project is Governor Allen's support," said Farradyne President Philip Tarnoff. "It's been very important."
Tarnoff said the Center for Transportation and the proposed test-bed are Virginia's strongest assets for the project.
In 1993, Tech was named one of the nation's three Research Centers of Excellence in Intelligent Vehicle/Highway Systems of America, along with the University of Michigan and Texas A&M.
Tech announced Thursday that the center would double its staff of 17 workers and move into new offices in Virginia Tech's Corporate Research Center.
Hobeika said he met with Allen in Richmond to talk about the economic impact that building the smart road could have on Southwest Virginia.
"[Allen] did very well; he's very much behind economic development," he said.
A two-lane, six-mile road from Blacksburg to the Interstate is estimated to cost about $50 million.
The road - proposed to link Roanoke and Virginia Tech - has been a controversial topic since it was proposed by former Roanoke Mayor Noel Taylor in 1986. Foes say the road is an unwanted, unneeded project that will destroy the pristine environment in the Ellett Valley.
"It's just going to be devastating," said Shireen Parsons, president of the New River Valley Sierra Club.
Parsons said the governor's support of the project doesn't surprise her.
"I just can't believe it happened so fast," she said.
Some planning and engineering for the road has been completed, but no money has been allocated to build the road, which would be filled with fiber-optic sensors. Of course, according to Allen's letter, completion of the two-mile portion is contingent on the GM team getting the federal grant.
Michael Freitas, of the federal highway administration and familiar with the project, said the competition will be stiff because it is such a high-profile project.
The application deadline for the project is March 18. A consortium that includes TRW Inc., one of the country's largest automotive suppliers, and Honeywell, a Minnesota electronics company, is expected to be the main competition for the GM team.
"It's a two-horse race," said one man working on the project.
by CNB