Good news: Trio of announcements welcomed

A trio of good news announcements Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., will reap benefits for Tazewell and Buchanan counties.

Boucher traveled to Tazewell with Time Warner officials to announce that a new broadband network will soon be constructed that will provide high speed Internet services to more than 420 homes and businesses in the Thompson Valley area as well as to the Thompson Valley Community Center and the Thompson Valley Volunteer Fire Department.

Folks living in the Thompson Valley community currently do not have access to high speed Internet or cable television services. Boucher said a former local cable provider recently closed its cable plant serving the community. To address the outage, Boucher said Time Warner will now construct a 25-mile broadband network throughout Thompson Valley.

Boucher also was in Grundy Tuesday morning to announce the establishment of a new veterans outpatient clinic planned for the Vansant community. The new center will provide convenient and close to home health care services for veterans in Buchanan County, and across Southwest Virginia.

According to Boucher, the Vansant clinic will be among several clinics opened in the region this year. VA-staffed outpatient clinics have opened recently in Bristol and Norton.

Boucher said a “debt of gratitude is owed to all of our nation’s veterans.” The new clinic will help ensure they have the best medical care possible in a convenient setting.

In the biggest news of the day, Boucher helped cut the ribbon Tuesday morning in downtown Grundy to celebrate a substantial completion of the Grundy Flood Control and Redevelopment Project and phase one of the U.S. Route 460 Grundy Relocation Project.

Boucher said officials were “lifting the curtain” Tuesday to officially unveil the new downtown, including the flood wall and the new Route 460. Tuesday’s ribbon cutting marked the culmination of years of work and a federal investment of more than $100 million to provide flood protection and a modern four-lane highway to help jump-start economic development in Grundy.

Efforts to flood-proof downtown Grundy date back several years when initial conversations regarding the project began with former President Bill Clinton. Boucher has successfully secured federal funding for the project on an annual basis in recent years.

The trio of good news announcements Tuesday are welcomed.

Southwest Virginia — and Tazewell and Buchanan counties in particular — will be well served by all three endeavors.

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