ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 21, 1996 TAG: 9611210048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: What's on your mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: Why has traffic in Roanoke increased so much in the past few years? I've lived here 20 years. Traffic on Virginia 419 was minimal at first, but at heavy traffic hours now it's almost impossible. I'd like to know the relationship between the population 20 years ago, the number of vehicle registrations and the number of licensed drivers.
R.O., Roanoke
A: The population has grown slowly, and the number of cars has grown explosively.
If we had to choose between a dental chair and a July ride on 419 in a non-air-conditioned car, some of us would go to the dentist. Better to perspire a little than sweat a lot.
The figures, as you requested: The population of Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke County in 1970 was 181,436. Vehicle registrations totaled 97,159.
Tanglewood Mall opened three years later.
By 1994, the Roanoke Valley's population was reckoned at 203,300 by the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia. Vehicle registrations totaled 162,700 as of last June.
Since 1970, the population has increased 12 percent; vehicle registrations went up 67 percent.
Add in the fact that most people drive more miles per year now. Roads are better, less time is needed for a trip, and many jobs require driving.
There are social issues too. Cars represent our freedom, so we drive to escape, or to achieve - or just to drive.
Bees will find a way
Q: There were few wild honeybees this year because a mite killed them off. Will honeybees make a comeback? How did this affect killer bees?
L.S., Troutville
A: It might take two years, five years or longer, but wild honeybees will recover some of their numbers.
That's the outlook from Hachiro Shimanuki of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's bee research laboratory in Beltsville, Md.
The mite you're asking about is visible only by microscope. The tracheal mite crawls into the breathing tubes of adult honeybees and sucks their blood.
Wild bees have been almost wiped out, along with many hives belonging to people who kept bees as a sideline and didn't apply the necessary medications.
Some honeybees have a mite-resistant trait that's expected to develop in all bees, based on findings at a USDA lab in Louisiana, Shimanuki said.
As for killer bees, Shimanuki is of the opinion that they're just as vulnerable to mites as other honeybees.
Africanized bees, as the scientists call them, are falling victim to mites in Mexico and Central America. That means these bees will have to adapt along with regular bees, Shimanuki said.
Africanized bees in Texas have not moved toward Virginia and may have reached their climatic limits.
Wild bees were so populous a few years ago that occasionally a swarm might settle on someone's vehicle in a parking lot.
It will be a long time before the population gets that high again, if ever, Shimanuki said.
Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Call us at 981-3118. Or, e-mail RayR@Roanoke.Infi.Net. Maybe we can find the answer.
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