Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9412010004
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The walkway is being promoted as an essential downtown connector to link the coming Hotel Roanoke/Convention Center project on the north side of the Norfolk Southern tracks with the downtown areas on the south side.
But strangely, what seems to have escaped many people is the fact that there once was a walkway over the tracks. When a new walkway was proposed, I attempted to find users of the previous one.
I could find only four people who remembered it - and, they had only vague remembrances.
It was in the 1950s, and there was a grade crossing at Jefferson Street for pedestrians and traffic. The walkway, however, allowed busy pedestrians to cross the tracks without waiting out a long train.
A lot of us used it, but that does not mean it was universally accepted.
It had long steps on each end and was open to wind and rain. Roanoke's cold winter winds really whipped across it.
In time the walkway was removed and replaced with a pedestrian underpass, which became a hangout for muggers and drunks. It's gone now.
Things are coming full circle, as we go back to the overhead walkway. I wonder if that will bring the same complaints as with the previous one. Then will we go back to an underpass and redo the whole process again?
Probably not.
The proposed walkway - "postcard pretty," they call it - might have elevators and escalators. Also, it might be glass enclosed and even have a miniscenic overlook in the middle..
The old one was anything but pretty. It was built of stark bare metal beams, strictly utilitarian.
But, it was part of the downtown.
Once, I was approaching the crossing as a train was coming. This was in the day of coal-burning steam locomotives. This, I thought, would be good chance to look down the smoke stack of an engine, something I'd oddly wanted to do for some time.
Up the steps I ran and leaned over the rail just as the locomotive passed under.
Whoof!
I didn't get much of a look down the stack but I did get a face full of hot, gritty smoke.
After that I avoided being directly over huffing locomotives.
The walkway was a great place for photographers and railroad buffs who wanted a good view of the trains.
It also was a good place just to gawk although people used to complain about the long trudge up and down the steps. The irritating part was starting up the steps as a train approached, only to have the caboose go by just as you stepped off the bottom step on the opposite side.
And, yes, trains had cabooses then.
This became something of a game. The dilemma was whether there was time to go across the walkway before the train got by or would it be quicker to wait for the train to pass and use the grade crossing.
Eventually the grade crossing was closed, and Jefferson Street pedestrians were left with only the walkway. An underpass was built in the late 1950s. But, the glamour of the underpass was short-lived as it became a haven for crime.
I once suggested to a Roanoke city manager that a satellite police office be put in the underpass to ensure safety.
I received no answer, and the underpass was closed. Another grade crossing for pedestrians was opened on Jefferson Street.
The only remnant of the underpass is the little brick building that covered the north entrance.
And now, we are back to the overhead walkway.
The proposed one should fare better than the old one. I am looking forward to it, but with a degree of sadness. It is too late getting here.
If the overpass of 40 years ago had been blessed with glass enclosure and scenic overlooks, maybe I could have looked down the stack of a locomotive without getting blasted by its exhaust.
That kind of locomotive hardly ever goes by anymore.
by CNB