Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 26, 1994 TAG: 9410260025
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
In the newest version of the site plan, Marshall Drive will enter the supercenter's parking lot from Peppers Ferry Road and connect with Laurel Street, off U.S. 460, after passing through a curbed, tree-lined avenue that will cut directly across the parking lot.
The plan addresses concerns expressed by Ray Alcorn, who represents the nearby Triangle Lanes bowling alley, and the safety issues the developers knew such a through street would raise.
Alcorn previously had asked that Marshall Drive provide direct access to Laurel Street and U.S. 460 because Triangle Lane's owners have plans to renovate the bowling alley and build a parking lot behind it, just off Marshall Drive.
"We've got to have that parking lot to bring our building up to code," Alcorn said. He added that he is "very pleased" with the new site plan.
Town and Wal-Mart officials said they are happy, too.
"What we've done there to seal off that area should make it a lot more secure," said Tim Sorey, a engineer with CEI Engineering Associates, the Bentonville, Ark. company that prepared the site plan.
"I think they're good solutions to the problem. They should solve it," Town Manager John Lemley told the Planning Commission Monday.
Curbs and stop signs will prevent traffic from crossing Marshall Drive in the parking lot, and speed bumps will slow traffic on the road. Traffic islands, trees and painted pavement will delineate Marshall Drive within the parking lot.
Employees will park in the section of the lot that Marshall Drive will separate from the 200,000-square-foot store, reducing the number of people crossing the road, Lemley said.
The remaining site plan revisions that town officials have identified include the addition of a right turn lane on Peppers Ferry Road into Bradley Drive.
Sorey said his firm is at work on those revisions. Construction bids already have gone out, he said, with construction expected to start next month. The building is scheduled to be completed next summer.
Sorey said the revisions Christiansburg has demanded are routine.
"There's always situations like this that come up. It's pretty normal. It's something we're used to dealing with."
He added that "the town's been great to deal with."
by CNB