Salem recognized the opportunity and wanted the intermodal yard but didn’t have a site that would work. Norfolk Southern and the state of Virginia have determined that the only suitable site is in Montgomery county. Montgomery county doesn’t want it, and they are determined to fight it tooth and nail.

The proposed site is across the street from a furniture plant. It’s near an industrial park and the new regional jail. The state of Virginia is willing to spend an additional $15 million to upgrade a road to keep truck traffic off of Route 460.

According to a state report released in January, the rail yard would employ about a dozen people and generate $3.5 million to $5.3 million in annual economic activity. Its spinoff effects could spread 740 to 2,900 jobs, annual economic output of $140 million to $550 million and $18 million to $71 million in taxes over a nine-county, five-city area from Lynchburg to Radford, from Franklin County to Monroe County, W.Va.

Do we look the gift horse in the mouth and complain and fight until the opportunity’s lost, and then we sit around and continue to complain about the poor economy here? Or do we seize the opportunity and try to improve our lot?

[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/breaking/wb/157334 “Read the Article”) (Roanoke Times)

[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/157508 “Read the Article”) (Roanoke Times)

[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/157496 “Read the Editorial”) (Roanoke Times)