Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 23, 1993 TAG: 9310230175
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In the past three years, eight people have died on the Roy Webber Highway between Elm Avenue and Wonju Street.
The latest fatal accident occurred last weekend when a Roanoke woman driving in the northbound lane was killed when a car in the southbound lane crossed the median and crashed into her car.
Brenda Jones, 41, died at the scene of the accident at 5:30 a.m. Saturday. The driver of the car that crossed the median was intoxicated, according to medical records obtained by police.
Cliff Arnold, a neighbor of the woman killed, said Friday that Jones might have been unhurt if there were a barrier or raised median between the southbound and northbound lanes.
"They can't seem to keep drunken drivers off the road. At least, they ought to put up something to keep cars from crossing the median," Arnold said.
"They know it is a dangerous stretch. They knew cars had crossed the median before. If they had done something, [Jones] would be alive today," Arnold said.
A similar wreck killed three people in May when a car crossed the median and plowed head-on into an oncoming vehicle.
City police and the city's Transportation Safety Commission are concerned about the section of the road and want the state to see if anything can be done to make it safer.
Bob Bengtson, city traffic engineer, said Friday the commission will contact the state Department of Transportation, which designed and maintains the highway. That section of the road is maintained by the state because it is part of U.S. 220.
The city's thoroughfare plan calls for the highway to be widened and changes to be made at the Colonial Avenue exit and Wonju Street. When the highway is widened, Bengtson said, the project would likely include barriers or guardrails on the median strip.
But the widening project is not scheduled in the city's highway improvements in the next six years. Bengtson said the safety commission hopes something can be done sooner.
Police Lt. R.A. Bower, head of the city's traffic division, said police are concerned, too, about the highway and have talked with traffic engineers about it.
Bower said the last two fatal accidents occurred within 100 feet of each other. And they occurred almost identically - a car crossing the median and crashing head-on into a car traveling in the opposite direction.
There is no guardrail or barrier to prevent a vehicle from crossing the median. If there had been a barrier, the outcome of the past two accidents could have been different, Bowers said.
In most of the accidents, alcohol was a factor and the vehicles were traveling faster than the road was designed to accommodate, he said.
State transportation officials are concerned whenever accidents occur, but there are no immediate plans for improvements to the Webber highway, said Laura Bullock, a spokeswoman for the department.
Bullock said Friday that highway officials are always willing to consider safety improvements that can be made without rebuilding a road.
In the past year, some new road markings have been painted and additional signs have been erected on the section of road to alert motorists to safety hazards, she said.
Bullock said speeding is one of the biggest problems on the Roy Webber Highway.
Some drivers go 60 to 65 mph on Interstate 581, although the speed limit is only 55 mph. But once they're south of Elm Avenue, which is the Webber Highway's northern boundary, they need to adjust, Bullock cautions.
"It's not the same type of highway," she said. The lanes in the Webber Highway are more narrow, the shoulders are not paved, the curves are sharper, and at some points the speed limit dips to 45 mph, Bullock explained.
Bower added that the alignment of the highway and the terrain between Elm Avenue and Franklin Road make it dangerous at high speeds.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB