Some residents, business owners and land developers in the Roanoke Valley see Interstate 73 as the highway to jobs and prosperity. Some of their critics accuse the highway's advocates of simply wanting to enrich themselves. Two businessmen who own thousands of acres and commercial property near the proposed corridors dismiss the accusations. By most estimates it would take 20 years to complete the road and by then, the developers say, they'll be too old to reap its benefits.
Opponents are jealous and have tunnel vision, they say.
George Lester, a Henry County developer, spearheaded efforts in the early 1990s among business owners in Rocky Mount and Rockingham County, N.C., to have I-73 built through those areas. A phalanx of Roanoke Valley business and government leaders soon fell in behind the idea and supported Lester and Ron Willard, a Smith Mountain Lake developer. While both have extensive holdings of commercial property and land in Franklin and Henry counties, they say they're not pushing the project for their own benefit. Opponents of the I-73 project argue that state officials listen too much to business leaders and developers. Lester and Willard, while they own thousands of acres in Henry and Franklin counties, said they have no vested interest in I-73.