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

DATE: THURSDAY, June 8, 1995                   TAG: 9506080050
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

KEEP TRUCKING

EVEN TRUCK drivers, or a lot of them anyway, probably will admit that highway travel would be more pleasant if big rigs weren't sharing the highways.

But, like them or not, trucks are vital to commerce. And, for the foreseeable future, car- and truck-drivers will remain fellow travelers.

So why has a citizens advisory committee proposed excluding trucks from the planned "smart highway" in Montgomery County? Why keep trucks out of high-tech research aimed at making highways and vehicles safer and more efficient? It makes no sense.

Sure, big trucks are noisy. Some carry hazardous materials that could cause messes if accidents occurred. And some, going uphill toward Blacksburg, could be slowed by a steep grade, leaving backups of cars behind them.

Just like in the real world.

That is the point of this research, isn't it? The road is to be Virginia Tech's experimental test bed for advanced technology that can be put to use in the real world, on thousands of miles of roadways that are anything but truckless.

To prohibit heavy rigs from using the proposed six-mile smart road linking Blacksburg and Interstate 81 could diminish the applicability of the research and thus the value of the project. Indeed, current plans envision this stretch becoming part of the interstate highway system - which trucks tend to use.

The advisory committee includes several citizens who have been outspoken critics of the smart road from the get-go. It was smart to include them. But they should know that highway planners with the Virginia Department of Transportation are under no obligation to go along with unrealistic advice.

Sure, the planners should review the proposal. They should take into account the citizens' concerns, and do what they can to mitigate them. A no-trucks resolution looks, though, very much like an obstacle placed in the path of the road's development.

State officials should remind their citizen advisers of the smart road's purpose - and give them back a piece of advice: If it's truck-free traveling you want, try the Blue Ridge Parkway.

by CNB