Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994 TAG: 9406030110
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Because Bent Mountain Road, or U.S. 221, runs tightly between Back Creek and steep hills in some places, widening it to four lanes will involve more than simply adding a lane on each side of the road.
One of the options the Virginia Department of Transportation is exploring is moving part of 221 from its existing roadway and putting it on the other side of Back Creek, creating a new road.
No matter where the road goes - or stays - in expanding 221, "a lot of what's existing out there would have to be consumed by the roadway," said Jeff Echols, VDOT's resident engineer for Roanoke County.
Homes, farms, a church and a fledgling subdivision are in a 700- to 800-foot swath south of Back Creek that VDOT tentatively has identified as a corridor for an expanded 221. Land the same distance from the creek on the north side- where the road now runs- also lies in the corridor, Echols said.
VDOT is scheduled to improve a two-mile stretch of the road in 1999 from Coleman Road, where last year's widening ends, to Old Mill Road. Further improvements, as far as the base of Bent Mountain, also are being considered for later.
"We need it bad," said Charles Lavinder, president of the Back Creek Rural Village Civic League. "That's a dangerous road. For safety's sake, we need a new road."
Lavinder said members of the Civic League long have wanted an improved 221 but he had not heard of the possible routes, so he reserved comment until after next week's community meeting with VDOT.
VDOT spokeswoman Laura Bullock stressed that surveying and planning haven't even begun and that VDOT wants to hear what residents and commuters have to say before they start.
The Transportation Department has scheduled an open house Thursday at Back Creek Elementary School from 4 to 7 p.m. for residents to stop in and look at aerial photographs and talk to engineers. This is earlier in the process than the department normally involves the public, Bullock said.
"We want them to understand what we're dealing with out there," she said. "To widen the road where it is, we can't go on the creek side, so we'd have to cut into the hillside. Property owners are going to be affected by the road no matter what we do."
The rural area seems an unlikely candidate for a four-lane highway with a median, but about 10,000 commuters and residents each day travel Bent Mountain Road. In 20 years that number is expected to almost double.
Subdivisions have been increasing along the road, adding to the traffic. But while an improved road would alleviate some of the problem, it also would open up the area to even more potential development.
There is a large powerline to be considered as the road widening is studied, as well as the geography. During the recent widening, steep slopes caused problems with mud and dirt sliding into the road. VDOT expects similar problems along the hills of the section it plans to widen.
"Those are factors that are going to make it a very interesting road" to build, Echols said. VDOT also wants residents to be aware of how traffic would be delayed if a decision is made to expand the existing road rather than move it.
At least one property owner who lives on the south side of the creek - where the road could be moved - is mounting opposition to the proposal.
Steve Strauss, who bought 78 acres on Cotton Hill Road just two weeks ago for a major subdivision, is meeting with neighbors and Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway today to discuss how to oppose moving 221 there. His land lies within the possible corridor.
Residential construction by Strauss and Len Boone on adjoining land was a controversial proposal in the county last year, when some argued that the large developments would ruin the view from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
But Strauss said if U.S. 221 cuts through his property, it would be worse for the parkway.
"If it comes through [that property], it will no longer be suitable for residential development," Strauss said.
Commercial development - such as gas stations and convenience stores - is "all it's good for," he said, which would look bad from the parkway. He also argued that building two bridges, to cross the creek and back again, would be "tremendously more expensive" than the cost of cutting into hills next to the existing road.
There is another option: the "no-build option." VDOT will not widen the road if residents oppose it. But Lavinder says they want it.
"They're all in favor of getting a better highway," he said. "I hate to see it come this way. But when you have progress, some people have to sacrifice."
by CNB