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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 14, 1994                   TAG: 9412140120
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VIADUCT'S DOOM LOOMS

There it's stood since the wrecking ball demolished part of it to make way for the First Union Tower in 1990 - hundreds of tons of concrete and steel that leads, well, nowhere.

A technological wonder when it first opened in the summer of 1956, the Hunter Viaduct has of late been the brunt of endless jokes. But soon, the comedians will have to look for another edifice to poke fun at.

City Council on Monday unanimously approved spending $92,138 to plan the demolition of the remaining section, construction of a new turning lane onto Salem Avenue from the southbound side of the Williamson Road bridge and a new concrete deck.

The cost of removal, redecking and addition of a lane is expected to total $2.5 million. The biggest chunk of that - slightly more than $1 million - will pay for removing the viaduct's 253-foot nub.

The work is still two years off, said city Public Works Director Bill Clark. It won't begin until a bridge over Second Street connecting Orange Avenue with downtown is finished in the fall of 1996.

"We didn't want to do that until [the] Second Street [bridge] was up," Clark said.

That's because the Williamson Road bridge - the southbound lanes at least - will be closed during part of the demolition, construction and redecking job.

City officials believe they can avoid rush-hour gridlock by routing downtown-bound traffic through Gainsboro and across the tracks at Second Street. Plans also call for a four-lane road between the bridge and Orange Avenue.

The original plan for the viaduct back in 1990 was far simpler: just cut the ramp off at the Williamson Road bridge and remove all of it, down to Jefferson Street.

But that was too easy. It turned out that steel supporting the viaduct was intertwined with supports for the Williamson Road bridge. Removing all of it would have weakened the bridge, Clark said.

So a 397-foot section beginning at Jefferson was taken down instead, with the rest left standing - much to the delight of area punsters and other comedians.

Already, some of those are beginning to mourn the half-viaduct's pending removal.

One is the Rev. G. Wilson Gunn Jr., pastor of Peace Presbyterian Church on Cloverdale Road.

For years, the good minister has ridiculed the half-ramp. For him, it evokes French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre's existential play "No Exit."

Actually, Gunn would rather see the viaduct preserved. He's got all sorts of tongue-in-cheek ideas for it: racquetball courts underneath, skateboard ramps up top. A circus could be installed on the concrete deck, complete with trapezes.

It also would be a great spot for downtown bungee-jumping, he laughed.

"It's really the end of an era. We've had this cliff for 41/2 or five years," Gunn said. "If they spend all this money to do away with this great object of humor, I have no doubt the public will find its comedy elsewhere in the general vicinity."

The coming $5.3 million pedestrian bridge across the railroad tracks, perhaps?

"That sounds good. We should do some planning for that," Gunn cracked.