ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 13, 1996 TAG: 9609130184
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
Riner-area growth this decade has increased Virginia 8 traffic by 27 percent, contributed to almost 300 accidents and caused travel delays as much as 60 percent of the time, according to a new study.
Large amounts of highway construction money or significant changes in local planning will be necessary to accommodate such a surge in people and cars along the two-lane rural artery from Christiansburg through Floyd County and into Patrick County, the study concludes.
Patrick Burton, with the New River Planning District Commission, reviewed his office's study with the Montgomery County Planning Commission Wednesday.
The document could be "used as a benchmark" by the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Montgomery and Floyd county governments to make future land use and road decisions, Burton said.
"This does pull together a lot of good information," on traffic data and growth patterns, he said.
The Planning District Commission met twice with concerned residents in both Floyd and Montgomery as part of the study, asking for their opinions on particular problems along the corridor.
Some of the study's findings and recommendations include:
* Installing turn lanes, including at Life Bible College just outside of Christiansburg, and at the intersection of Union Valley Road in the heart of Riner.
* Improving the intersection of Meadow Creek Road (Virginia 658) and Dairy Road (Virginia 670) with Virginia 8. The two secondary roads meet in a curve on Virginia 8 at a single intersection. The study recommends adding signs to indicate which road has the right of way for turning onto the main road. In the long term, it recommends that the intersection be realigned so that Meadow Creek Road creates a T-intersection with Virginia 8.
* Widening and straightening Virginia 8 from the Montgomery-Floyd line to Christiansburg, similar to how the Floyd County section was improved several years ago.
* Making better land use decisions based on "an area's ability to accommodate development," either with existing infrastructure or planned improvements.
* Improving signs in the Riner school-zone area - particularly with the planned new elementary school and increasing number of businesses - that would give motorists more time to react and slow down.
* Moving the Blue Ridge Parkway access sign on Virginia 8 in Floyd County farther from the ramp so it can be seen sooner by southbound motorists, perhaps reducing the number of accidents in the area.
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