Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 13, 1994 TAG: 9402150001
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-19 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Designing an interchange calls for the molding of roads now, roads envisioned and roads still very much dreamed of. It calls for situating the on- and off-ramps to get travelers closer to their work and homes. It calls for sacrificing businesses in the name of progress.
Plans in the Virginia Department of Transportation's Christiansburg office answer those calls.
As the plans are drawn now, Alternative 3A, the bypass-to-bypass corridor linking Blacksburg to Christiansburg, would run through the south end of Blacksburg.
Heading west, an off-ramp would run to Industrial Park Road. Coming the other way, an on-ramp would attach itself from South Main Street across from where Hokie Honda sits.
A huge 620-foot-long overpass - the length of two football fields - would straddle South Main and Ramble Road.
Farther west and across another bridge, an on-ramp would connect to the existing U.S. 460.
The interchange is further complicated by the smart highway - also called the "direct link" or "Alternative 6."
. The smart road which would connect Blacksburg directly to Interstate 81, would swoop in from the east, cross over an exit ramp for Alternative 3A and link up with 3A before hitting the long overpass.
An off-ramp would place travelers directly onto South Main closer to Blacksburg.
Transportation Department resident engineer Dan Brugh calls the plans "extremely" preliminary. And plans for the smart road - which must find a lot of nontraditional funding to become a reality - are more preliminary than those for Alternative 3A.
"The general location of 3A ... is pretty well set," Brugh said of his main priority. But, "we still have to keep the smart road in the back of our head as to how we're going to tie it in."
Over the years, plans have evolved, but in two months, Brugh said the Highway Department wants to start design work on 3A. The project is expected to cost $53 million, and will be paid for through state road funds.
Last month, he provided Blacksburg Town Council with maps showing where the roads are drawn to go, and asked for suggestions.
While the state is calling the shots, Adele Schirmer, the town's planning and engineering director, told council, "We need to give them some general input on where the ramps would go. ... "
Off the bat, Mayor Roger Hedgepeth said the drawings looked like, "a heavy pile of spaghetti."
He and some council members were concerned that 3A appears as the "main" road, with the direct link - their preferred name for the smart road - as an offshoot.
"The direct link looks like nothing more than an appendage," Hedgepeth said.
Vice chairman Michael Chandler was worried about the damage a 600-foot bridge would do to travelers' first view of Blacksburg.
A letter will be sent to the transportation department asking for three main things to be considered, said Schirmer. They are:
That the exit ramp for 3A off the westbound lanes be extended to reach both Industrial Park Road and go on to South Main, along the lines of the proposed ramp for the smart road. This would provide easier access to downtown.
That the length of the overpass be greatly reduced by closing a portion of Ramble Road, between Industrial Park and Yellow Sulfur roads. When the highway is built, there will be no reason to reach that stretch of road, they said.
That the Highway Department design the roads so that the main traffic movement is onto the direct link or smart road, instead of onto 3A.
For Brugh's part, the first two requests probably will be simple ones to accommodate. If both roads are built, one off-ramp probably would service both roads. And if Ramble Road is truncated, the overpass length could be cut in half, he said.
The third request may be more difficult.
"This is a definite," says he, pointing to 3A. "This [the smart road] is a maybe." Plus, traffic studies have shown that more commuters would use 3A. "You don't want to make that your secondary road."
Still, he welcomes the input.
"If there's anything that we can do, I'd just as soon start out with [their ideas] in mind," he said.
by CNB