DATE: Wednesday, May 28, 1997               TAG: 9705280467

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   71 lines

ROAD WIDENING CHOICES WILL BE BALANCING ACT ROUTE 17 OPTIONS MAY MEAN EITHER RAZING HOMES OR HURTING WETLANDS.

The wetlands along the Dismal Swamp in Chesapeake provide habitat for migrating birds and roaming bears, as well as roomy tracts for houses.

But they are not so accommodating of cars.

The Virginia Department of Transportation plans to build a new road to replace a dangerous and overburdened 10-mile stretch of U.S. Route 17 that connects the state to North Carolina. City, state and federal officials have discovered a challenge in finding a location for the road that isn't already being used for something else.

VDOT is expected to choose a preferred alternative in the next month from two proposals. One proposal calls for widening the existing road along the eastern edge of the refuge, possibly walling it off from the city, which could disturb animal habitats, sensitive wetlands and historic homes. The second alternative would also widen the existing road and could level dozens of homes along West Road farther to the east.

The state highway agency is considering some changes to reduce the impacts, and it is getting many suggestions.

One resident's solution involves building a new four-lane highway just east of the existing road, which runs along the eastern border of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Robert Brown, a Deep Creek resident who has worked in the road construction business for years, said his plan would bypass established wildlife corridors and save the 30 or so homes threatened by bulldozers.

``It would serve the transportation needs and the ecological needs of the city without taking the homes,'' Brown said. ``In the space between the road and the swamp, the city could develop a park.''

Brown proposes building underpasses at documented animal passageways and putting up fences to prevent wildlife, including deer and bears, from crossing the new four-lane highway. His plan would avoid the mucky peat soil near the swamp that makes building difficult.

The suggestion is being evaluated for its costs, but Jane Wimbush, district construction engineer for VDOT, said she believes its environmental impacts may be greater than those of the other proposals because four new lanes would have to be built instead of adding two to the existing road.

Still, shifts east and west of proposed routes will be considered, she said, as will all comments from the public.

``That's what the process is for,'' said Roberto Fonseca, the division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration, about gathering public comment on the environmental impacts of the new road.

The Federal Highway Administration is working with VDOT on developing an environmental impact statement, a document required by federal law that outlines the effects of development and points to a preferred alternative. Other federal agencies charged with care for wildlife, wetlands and pollution have a say in the process - along with the city of Chesapeake and the public.

Although VDOT says in an outline of its findings so far that expanding the road where it exists would be cheaper and wouldn't disturb the homes, other agencies have expressed concerns.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which issues the federal permits needed to build on wetlands, countered that building on the peat soil surrounding the existing road would be damaging to sensitive land and more costly than reported. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which controls the swamp, said recovering populations of black bears and shrews, among other wildlife, would be jeopardized.

The agencies, also expressing opposition to flattening the homes, asked VDOT to continue to evaluate other sites.

The Chesapeake City Council is expected to weigh in soon with a recommendation. It will likely back a route near the existing road that would preserve space for a swamp visitors' center and the historic homes, according to Vice Mayor John W. Butt.

VDOT will make its recommendation to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which will make the final decision. Construction will not begin for several years.

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