Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 6, 1990 TAG: 9003062098
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
City Council voted Monday to approve a compromise plan that calls for Peters Creek Road to be extended by 2.5 miles from Melrose Avenue Northwest to Brandon Avenue Southwest. The highway will intersect Brandon at Aerial Way Drive near the entrance to the Blue Ridge Park for Industry.
The Greater Deyerle Neighborhood Association, which originally opposed the plan to extend the highway, agreed to support City Manager Robert Herbert's recommendation on the route after the city agreed to widen Brandon Avenue and implement a series of traffic control measures.
Residents in the Deyerle-Mud Lick Road area had feared that the Peters Creek project would result in many motorists using their neighborhood as a shortcut between Brandon and Virginia 419.
The traffic control measures, which include a ban on left turns from Brandon Avenue onto Deyerle Road during the morning and afternoon peak traffic hours, are designed to prevent motorists from cutting through.
Council voted to ask the Virginia Department of Transportation to begin preliminary engineering and planning for widening a 1.3-mile section of Brandon between Edgewood Street and the western city limits.
The state has committed $20.2 million for the Peters Creek project, Herbert said, but the recommended route will cost $15 million. The $5.2 million in unused funds can be used to help pay for the Brandon Avenue project, which is estimated to cost $7 million, he said.
Construction on the Peters Creek project is expected to start in 1995 and be completed by 1997. Under the city's agreement with the Deyerle neigborhood group, Brandon Avenue must be widened by the time the Peters Creek Road extension is finished.
The neighborhood group had vowed up until just a few months ago to fight any of the four proposed routes for the extension.
Three proposals called for the road to intersect Brandon east of the Lee-Hi Shopping Center. The fourth called for the highway to intersect Brandon and Keagy Road just west of the Lee-Hi shopping center in Salem. This route was intended to provide motorists with a more direct route to Virginia 419, making it less likely they would cut through the Deyerle neighborhood.
Councilman David Bowers wanted to delay action on the project for a week, saying he favored the fourth alternative that called for the highway to be west of the Lee-Hi center.
Bowers said the Peters Creek Road extension is part of the regional highway network and it made more sense to link it with Virginia 419. Some residents in the Deyerle neighborhood called him this past weekend and told him they didn't support Herbert's recommendation, Bowers said.
Herbert said Salem had vetoed the route west of the shopping center. The Department of Transportation wouldn't construct it at that location without Salem's approval.
The compromise with the Greater Deyerle neighborhood group was the outcome of a mediation process that involved the use of a "conflict resolution specialist" to address the neighborhood's concerns about traffic, noise, safety and environmental issues.
State highway officials said the new road will provide better traffic circulation and access to the businesses and industrial areas between the Plaza of Roanoke-Salem, the Veterans Administration Medical Center and the Brandon Avenue corridor.
City officials said the road will also provide a way for emergency vehicles to cross the Roanoke River and Norfolk Southern railway tracks in the area.
Seven businesses - but none along Brandon Avenue - would have to relocate, but no residents would be displaced by the project.
The highway will have four lanes, separated by a 16-foot grass median strip with curbs, gutters and sidewalks on each side. The road would have a 90-foot right of way.
by CNB