"Smart" Road Citizen's Advisory Committee
Records, 1993-97, 0.6 cu. ft., Ms97-025
Introduction:
The "Smart" Road is a project designed by the Virginia Department of Transportation to build a roadway as a direct link between Blacksburg and Roanoke, Virginia. The roadway was deemed necessary to alleviate congestion on the existing Route 460, particularly the portion that travels from Interstate 81 through Christiansburg to Blacksburg. The roadway would also serve as a testsite for IVHS, or Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems, "smart highway" technology. It was originally proposed that the roadway would be constructed as a four-lane facility on new alignments from I-81, approximately one mile north of its intersection with State Route 641, to the intersection of U.S. Business and Bypass Routes 460. The proposed highway would pass through the Ellett Valley of Montgomery County, Virginia.
In 1994 a citizens advisory committee was formed to advise VDOT about the environmental and social ramifications of building the new roadway, as well as it's overall design. Issues the committee investigated included how an endangered species, the smooth coneflower, would be affected by the construction of the highway; the impact on the air quality of the Ellett Valley; impact on caves and karsts in the area; the destruction of cemeteries; and flooding potential in the Roanoke River.
Scope and Content:
The collection consists of reports, copies of electronic mail correspondence, brochures, meeting minutes, and newspaper clippings about the "Smart" Road proposal, collected by Dorothy Bodell of Blacksburg, Virginia, as she served on the citizen's advisory committee from January 1995 to July 1997.
Provenance:
The "Smart" Road Citizen's Advisory Committee literature was donated by Dorothy Bodell of Blacksburg, Virginia, in 1997. The materials were processed in March and April 1998 by Kris Borgesen, student assistant, and Laura Katz Smith, Manuscripts Curator, Special Collections Department.
Contents List:
Box 1
- Folder 1: 1993--Final Environment Impact Statement, Blacksburg/Roanoke Connector
- Folder 2: 1994, December--Letter to Dorothy Bodell inviting her to join the "Smart" Road committee
- Folder 3: 1994, December--Phase 1 Cultural Resources Survey of the Two New Proposed Alignments for the "Smart" Highway
- Folder 4: 1994-1997 -- Pamphlets on the "Smart" Road
- Folder 5: 1995, March -- "Smart" - 060-Fo1, Bike Trail Estimates
- Folder 6: 1995, March - November -- Meeting minutes
- Folder 7: 1995, May -- Project Schedule Status Screen
- Folder 8: 1995, June -- Property Owners Along Southern Alignment
- Folder 9: 1995, July -- U.S. Department of the Interior, re: "Smart" Highway Biological Opinion
- Folder 10: 1995 -- Resolutions of the Members of the Citizen's Advisory Committee for the "Smart" Road
- Folder 11: 1995-96--Agricultural and Forestal Districts and the "Smart" Highway
- Folder 12: 1995-1996 -- Air Quality Analysis, Addendum to the Final Environmental Impact Statement, Fishburn Notes, Diagrams
- Folder 13: 1995-1996 -- Concerns of the Citizens Advisory Committee about the "Smart" Road
- Folder 14: 1995-1996 -- Newspaper clippings about the "Smart" Road
- Folder 15: 1995-1996 -- Letters in Favor of the "Smart" Road and "Smart" Road Description
- Folder 16: 1995-1997 -- Miscellaneous literature
- Folder 17: 1996 -- Email correpondence of the "Smart" Road committee
- Folder 18: 1996, May -- Special Notice and Application Form for the Department of Transportation, "Smart" Road
Box 2
- Folder 1: 1996, January - June -- Meeting minutes, information about "Smart" Road
- Folder 2: 1996, July-October -- Meeting minutes, Proposition for "Smart" Road
- Folder 3: 1997, January-July -- Meeting minutes
- Folder 4: 1997, April -- Environmental Reevaluation "Smart" Highway
- Folder 5: 1997 -- Photocopied article about "Smart" Road, Executive Summary of Response to VDOT, and Bodell's letter of resignation from the committee
- Folder 6: n.d.-- Information about the HKD Tower Snowgun
- Folder 7: n.d.-- Phone listings of members of the citizen's advisory committee
- Folder 8: n.d.-- Southern Alignment
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Guide to Resources for the History of Blacksburg, Virginia
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Manuscript sources for Montgomery County, Virginia, History
Manuscript materials for which there are Inventories Online
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