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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 3, 1994                   TAG: 9405030125
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

CLOSING OF BRIDGE CREATES PARKING TANGLE

The lot's filled all day long at the Radford Community Hospital's Wellness Center, but Jim Wright, the center's director, would be happier if all those vehicles belonged to paying customers, not commuters. Since the Memorial Bridge closed April 21, many motorists - too many, in Wright's opinion - have turned his lot and the one at the ABC store next door into a park 'n' walk plaza for people heading to work or shop across the river.

Wright said he doesn't want to be a bad guy, but his sympathy has limits. "We are prepared to tow, and we are making every effort to let the public know," he warned Monday. "We cannot function as a public lot."

He said many of the center's paying members have been forced to park several blocks away, and he's even had to ask staff members to park somewhere else. Last week, he said, cars had to be towed after they blocked in an ambulance.

On-call hospital and emergency staffers using the center may need to get to their vehicles on a moment's notice, he said.

Wright said he'll work with anyone having a legitimate reason to occupy the center's lot. But, he's asked employees of St. Albans Psychiatric Hospital - a Carilion affiliate like Radford Community Hospital - not to tie up any of the center's 52 spaces.

Next door, despite a huge "Customers Only - Towing Enforced" banner on the side of the building, ABC Store manager Mike Quesenberry doesn't plan to call in the tow trucks just yet. "We're going to try to work with everyone," he said Monday.

Quesenberry said he'll designate a large portion of the lot for commuter parking and just wants to keep a few parking spots free for customers, who, unlike those at the fitness center, generally don't linger.

Both Radford University and Radford Community Hospital have been operating shuttle buses for employes out of the ABC Store lot.

Bridge commuters are welcome at the Radford Recreation Center's parking lot, just around the corner from the bridge plaza on First Street. Commuting motorists have been asked to park on the west end of the lot, near the tennis courts, so rec center patrons can park nearest to the building.

Wright said Wellness Center members will be issued parking passes, and his staff will monitor the lot. "We don't want to tow, but we're asking for cooperation," he said.

by CNB