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

DATE: SATURDAY, October 22, 1994                   TAG: 9410250004
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW SIGNS TO POINT WAY TO VA. TECH

Big new signs heralding a driver's impending arrival at Virginia Tech go up on Interstate 81 next month, the first of several steps to better mark the route to campus.

Tech's logo, depicting the campus War Memorial pylons, will be shown on both signs, which replace thesigns located within the mile north and south of I-81 Exit 118 leading to Christiansburg, Blacksburg and Virginia Tech.

"The university has been in discussions with VDOT [the Virginia Department of Transportation] for some time about updating the road signs - after all, Tech probably is the major traffic generator in the area," university transportation fellow Ray Pethtel said.

Besides the interstate signs, new directions for drivers on the secondary roads leading from Christiansburg to Blacksburg may go up in the coming months.

While some signs already stand by the side of well-traveled roads to Tech, they don't always give specific directions around campus. The new signs, with logo affixed, will better point visitors to athletic facilities for games, or emergency cases to the hospital at the Virginia-Maryland Regional Veterinary School, said Ray Smoot, vice president for finance.

Those signs probably will be put up at the U.S. 460/Christiansburg bypass at Virginia 114, the U.S. 460/Blacksburg bypass fork, and both Southgate and Prices Fork roads, Smoot said.

Final plans are circulating inside the university, awaiting the necessary approvals, Smoot said.

Dan Brugh, regional engineer for VDOT, said the new interstate signs are going up simply as part of the usual rotation of sign replacements.

The old ones have "been out there a long time and they're losing their reflectivity," he said.

One problem that won't be fixed in the forseeable future is the lack of any reference to Blacksburg - or Tech - on I-81 until within a mile of Exit 118. Those who don't know the town is near Christiansburg are out of luck, because federal rules require signs to name the town closest to the road, Brugh said.

Be that as it may, Smoot is looking forward to the spiffy new interstate signs. They'll be "bigger than what's up there now," he said, and standing smartly sometime next month - "prior to the UVa game."

by CNB