Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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| Summerlin unsure if board will decide on draft plan today |
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Thursday, November 19, 2009
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Martinsville City Manager Clarence Monday thinks the proposed alternative route for Interstate 73 would help boost the city’s economy.
Monday said he wants to find out how I-73 would impact the Beaver Creek Reservoir, the city’s drinking water supply that the alternative route would pass near, and potential future industrial sites near the city.
Those issues were not discussed in detail in a final draft review of the route issued by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in late October.
Still, “I do think it (the route) is vital for economic development” and the future of both Martinsville and Henry County, Monday said.
A presentation on the final draft review was planned for the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s meeting Wednesday in Richmond. But due to the long agenda, the presentation was postponed until today’s session of the two-day meeting, said Henry County Administrator Benny Summerlin, who is attending the meeting.
Summerlin said there will be a briefing by VDOT staff on the review. He said he does not know if the CTB will make a decision on the alternative route today.
In 2004, VDOT approved for I-73 a route that runs through Henry County, mostly east of Martinsville.
The Henry County Board of Supervisors has since proposed the alternative route, which generally is slightly west of the approved route. The alternative route would bring the interstate closer to the Patriot Centre and Martinsville industrial parks, as well as the Martinsville Speedway.
A final draft review released by VDOT in late October shows advantages and disadvantages to the alternative route.
Advantages would include no commercial buildings having to be demolished, fewer stream crossings and less impact on wetlands. Disadvantages would include more homes having to be torn down, more floodplain acreage being affected and higher costs, mainly due to more interchanges needing to be installed and having to add 1.8 miles to the highway, the review shows.
The CTB ultimately will decide whether to abandon the approved route and use the alternative route instead. But further study of environmental issues and the need for railroad crossing structures would be necessary if the CTB decides that the alternative route is feasible, according to Heidi Underwood, public affairs manager for VDOT’s Salem District.
Area business people who have publicly backed the alternative route remain optimistic it will be approved.
The final draft review shows “no fatal flaws,” said Skip Ressel, president of The Ronbuilt Corp. of Martinsville.
Max Kendall, who operates a lumber company in Axton, said the alternative route would greatly help Henry County and Martinsville because it includes two additional interchanges, while the approved route essentially would be “a bypass through” the county, veering away from industrial parks.
A map in the draft review shows the alternative route would have eight interchanges and the approved route would have six.
“Industry follows the interstate,” Kendall said, and interchanges “are what makes the road” since they offer motorists traveling the highway access to nearby places, such as industrial sites.
Both Ressel and Kendall disagreed that more homes would definitely have to be torn down and that the cost of building the interstate would increase.
The review indicates the alternative route would displace 80 homes — 38 more than reflected in the CTB’s approved route.
Eliminating housing does not necessarily mean displacing residents, Ressel indicated. He said he understands the review takes into account, in part, a mobile home park near Laurel Park that has been for sale for two years.
And, the alternative route includes about five miles of the U.S. 58 Bypass that already is built to interstate standards.
“That’s five miles of savings,” Ressel said.
The review says the alternative route would increase the construction cost of I-73’s stretch between Roanoke and the North Carolina line by about $56 million to approximately $2.904 billion. That cost estimate is based on dollar values in 2007.
Ressel said he understands figures in the review represent “a worst-case scenario.”
Local developer George Lester, who was chairman of JobLink, a committee that pushed for the state to designate a route for I-73, said he just wants to see the interstate come to fruition.
“I’m for the project,” he said. “I don’t really care which route” it takes.
However, Lester said he is concerned that taking time to further consider the alternative route “will delay 73 and possibly throw it off track.”
If Henry County is successful in getting the route changed locally, Franklin and Roanoke counties might try and get the route altered in those counties, which would further delay the project, he said.
Other delays could occur as VDOT proceeds in efforts to economize and if Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell appoints an all-new CTB, Lester said. In the latter scenario, new board members would have to take time to learn about the need for I-73, as well as the route options being discussed, he said.
“It’s taken almost a decade to get where we are now” in planning I-73, said Lester. He said the proposed alternative route is “well-intentioned, but so much is at stake. We need something sooner rather than later.” |
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