Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412200054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After a half-dozen politicians made speeches, store clerk Dolly Swartzel put her own spin on a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new and improved Alternate U.S. 220.
"I think they should have honored the workers instead of those dignitaries," she said.
Swartzel's unvarnished comment about the near completion of a new stretch of four-lane highway was a refreshing break from a ceremony that bordered on the bizarre.
The ribbon-cutting was held to honor a highway that was not yet ready to open. Virginia Department of Transportation officials say that will come sometime next week.
After the ceremony, traffic was routed onto the cramped two lanes that made the highway a hazard in the first place.
VDOT said it scheduled the event now so members of the General Assembly could attend. In January, Virginia's legislative body is in session in Richmond.
Picture a procession of ribbon-breakers composed of a firetruck with sirens blaring, two police cars and a minivan full of politicians in the rear.
The procession left the Read Mountain Fire Station, ran a short way south on 220 toward U.S 460, and whirled around to align itself into the proper, ribbon-breaking position as police stopped traffic in both lanes.
As the procession approached, Laura Bullock, the VDOT spokeswoman, called the play-by-play for the crowd that gathered and shivered in the fire station parking lot.
Speeches included one by Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, who praised former Gov. Gerald Baliles for his transportation initiatives, and, of course, himself for his vision for the need of improved highways.
Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, noted that the roar of traffic is the sweet sound of success.
Across the road at the 604 Minute Market, Swartzel had more pragmatic concerns.
"It will make the road a lot safer," she said.
Swartzel, who has run the market's register in the morning for 13 years, has seen plenty of accidents.
Several years ago, a man died out front when his truck ran into the back of another and then careened into the path of an oncoming tractor-trailer.
"I worried about myself turning in here every morning," Swartzel said. "I worry about the school buses not being safe or someone hitting the buses."
Robert Murray, one of the owners of Murray Cider Co., said renovation of the road is about 15 years too late. He said an additional lane probably will be needed by the time the road is opened.
Murray, who has lived along the road all his life, said the current two-lane road simply is handling more traffic than it can bear.
That situation was made worse by tractor-trailers trying to avoid scales. The revamped 220 will have its own.
"I'm tickled to death," Murray said. "This has been the 'scale bypass' road."
by CNB