Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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Sunday, November 22, 2009
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is suggesting that the proposed alternative route for Interstate 73 through Henry County not be studied further because potential risks may outweigh the benefits.
But the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) does not have to take that advice, according to Henry County Administrator Benny Summerlin and VDOT spokesman Jason Bond.
In a report presented to the CTB on Thursday, VDOT recommends that the CTB proceed with the route approved by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and specified in its record of decision on I-73. That route takes the highway east and north of Martinsville.
The alternative route, proposed by the Henry County Board of Supervisors, runs slightly west of the approved route. It would bring the interstate closer to major local industrial parks and the Martinsville Speedway.
In its recommendation against further study of the route, the VDOT report mentioned risks including cost and environmental considerations, plus:
• There is no guarantee that the highway administration will accept the alternate route.
• The project’s opposition would have another opportunity to initiate litigation against VDOT and the FHWA, and
• The FHWA may require the environmental review process to be repeated, “which could jeopardize the overall project.”
The report mentions four reasons why the alternate route would be better than the approved route and six reasons why it would not.
In addition to being closer to industrial parks and the speedway, the listed benefits are two fewer commercial properties being affected, five fewer stream crossings and a 4.2-acre reduction in the impact on wetlands.
Detriments listed include higher costs, a 1.8-mile increase in the highway’s length, the need for 38 more residential relocations, a 28.7-acre increase in impact on flood plains and proximity to Laurel Park Middle School and the Beaver Creek Reservoir, which is Martinsville’s drinking water source.
VDOT estimated in the report that revising the FHWA’s record of decision to reflect using the alternative route would take 12 to 30 months and cost up to $2.2 million or more, depending on how much work is necessary.
The report, which is available on the CTB’s Web site, did not say how VDOT arrived at the cost increase figures. It did not detail the other detriments.
Despite VDOT’s recommendation, Summerlin, who was at the CTB meeting, said Dana Martin of Roanoke, who represents VDOT’s Salem District on the Commonwealth Transportation Board, wants a resolution in favor of asking the FHWA to further study the alternate route to be considered during the board’s December meeting.
Martin could not be reached Friday for comment.
Bond, who is based in Salem, was not at the CTB meeting in Richmond and was unaware of Martin’s request.
In deciding whether to pursue further study of the alternative route, Bond said, the CTB likely will consider the “added cost and added time” involved. But he had no indication of what the board might decide.
The VDOT report was presented during a CTB work session in which staff briefings on various issues were presented.
Summerlin said he spoke in favor of the alternative route during a public comment session Wednesday at the beginning of the two-day meeting.
He said he told the board that since the need for I-73 first was examined in 1997, “a lot of things have changed in the county,” including many business closings and job losses, plus the purchase of a total of almost 2,000 acres in the county for new industrial sites.
The CTB did not respond to his comments. While it is receptive to public comments during meetings, it usually does not respond to them, Summerlin said.
However, “I’m optimistic they’ll give it (the alternate route) consideration,” Summerlin said.
Before the meeting, he talked with various members of the board about the proposed route, and “I thought they were very receptive to it,” he said.
And, after sitting through long discussions of various projects before I-73 came up, he said, “The board as a whole gives a lot of thought” to issues.
Losing the alternative route “would be a tremendous loss” for Martinsville since “we’ve been beaten down terribly” by the economy, said Skip Ressel, president of The Ronbuilt Corp. in Martinsville and a staunch supporter of the route.
It is “unfathomable to me,” he said, how VDOT “would not see what we’ve gone through in this area and not try to help us” rebuild the local economy.
“How do they expect us to grow?” he added. |
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