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

DATE: FRIDAY, July 22, 1994                   TAG: 9407220107
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By MELISSA CURTIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HUCKLEBERRY CONSTRUCTION SLOWED BY ENVIRONMENTAL, OTHER CONCERNS

Endangered flowers, Indian relics, route adjustments and wheelchair requirements have pushed construction of the Huckleberry Trail back to the spring of1995.

When PATH - People Advocating the Huckleberry - the group established to oversee the trail's establishment, met Wednesday, it was to discuss the long list of nettlesome delays that have held off ground-breaking for the trail by a year.

Construction of the six-mile hiking and biking trail that will run from Blacksburg to the New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg originally was scheduled to begin this spring.

"We were hoping to have it built by now," said Duane Hyde, a Montgomery County staff assistant to the committee. "But because it's a new program you've got to expect these delays."

Hyde called environmental issues concerning the trail the "biggest hurdle" the PATH committee still needs to clear before construction can begin.

In addition to arranging for a biologist to survey the trail for an endangered flower suspected to be on the route, the committee must also pay for an archeological survey of parts of the trail to check the area for Indian artifacts.

Hyde predicted that both surveys would be completed in the next two months.

Because the trail originally ran by a power substation on Virginia Tech property, a route adjustment was needed because of safety concerns. The trail now will run by Tech's tennis courts and athletic fields, which Hyde calls a "more direct route."

The trail also will have to be modified to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires that it be wheelchair-accessible. Steep slopes will have to be regraded and some areas of the trail may have to be rerouted.

The trail, one of 37 projects given federal money last October by the Virginia Department of Transportation, follows the route of an abandoned railroad used in the first half of the century, primarily to haul coal and passengers.

by CNB