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May 17, 2001: The Commonwealth Transportation Board approved building a new terrain Interstate 73 routing it along I-581 and through southeast Roanoke City, around Mill Mountain, through Windy Gap, Coopers Cove, east of the current U.S. 220, and east of Martinsville to the North Carolina border. The board's departure from a path west of Martinsville, which highway engineers had recommended, added $106 million, raising the road's projected cost to $1.2 billion. This eastern route is expected to displace 139 more residences, mostly in Henry County, for a total of 506 homes on a 67-mile path from Roanoke to the North Carolina border. In an 8-4 vote, the Commonwealth Transportation Board rejected a staff recommendation that Interstate 73 go west of Martinsville along the current 220 bypass. The CTB selected Option 2A, with two deviations 1) the connector path of segment 118 and 118B and 2) at Sydnorsville- Segment 326 instead of 386. Virginians for Appropriate Roads, a BREDL chapter, The Friends of Franklin County and BREDL will continue the fight to upgrade U.S. 220 instead of destroying more land for a redundant new terrain highway. "I hope the people of the Roanoke Valley will not acquiesce to this. It benefits none of us, unless we are developers," said Ann Rogers of Virginians for Appropriate Rural Roads, which pushed to have U.S. 220 upgraded instead of having a new road built. The effects on wetlands increased with the choice of the eastern route. The western corridor had been expected to affect about 25 acres of swamp and adjoining springs and drainage. The eastern route adds eight acres to that total, most of it in the Smith River area south of Martinsville, said Patsy Napier, who coordinated VDOT's study of I-73. VDOT officials said the first phase of
construction would begin in five or six years. More Info: CTB Resolution choosing build/new-terrain route for I-73. May 02, 2001: VAR, BREDL, & FFC letter to DOT/FHWA
expressing our concerns with insufficient I-73
DEIS and request for Supplement or new DEIS.
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