CONSTRUCTION ON U.S. 460 SCHEDULED TO BEGIN THIS SPRING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 14, 1993                   TAG: 9302120014
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short
CONSTRUCTION ON U.S. 460 SCHEDULED TO BEGIN THIS SPRING
Area drivers will have to put up with construction on U.S. 460 this spring and summer, but eventually traffic may move more quickly.
The state highway department has two projects in mind for the road, and construction on both is set to begin this spring. Each of the $100,000 projects is scheduled to be completed by the fall.
One will involve adding a second westbound lane onto North Franklin Street where that road connects with the U.S. 460 bypass. Now there's only one lane heading west, and highway engineers say that isn't enough.
"About two-thirds of the traffic on 460 is coming from Franklin Street instead of the bypass," said Dan Brugh, the highway department's resident engineer in Christiansburg.
Brugh said the construction will help alleviate the traffic snarls that occur at the intersection every morning.
In the second project, a third eastbound land will be added to U.S. 460 between Virginia 114 (Peppers Ferry Road) and the U.S. 460 bypass. This project should help reduce traffic back-ups at the busy intersection at the New River Valley Mall and the Marketplace, Brugh said.
The third lane will be on the median between eastbound and westbound U.S. 460, Brugh said. One of the two left-turn lanes on U.S. 460 that feeds into the Peppers Ferry Road extension toward Pargo's restaurant will be converted to the third eastbound lane.
Traffic flow shouldn't be slowed during the day, Brugh said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB