Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 23, 1994 TAG: 9412230110
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On Jan. 17, every homeowner in Bedford County will have a chance to sound off on the proposed new names their streets and roads will be sporting. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 7 that night in the Liberty High School auditorium before the names become final.
It's been a long road to travel, so to speak.
The Planning Commission and about 20 citizen volunteers have been working since February to come up with names for all the roads, which now are identified by route number. All roads have to have names before Bedford's 911 system goes on line in 1996.
So far, there have been a few minor skirmishes. Residents living on two different Turkey Mountain roads, for example, each claimed - with historic documentation - that theirs was the real Turkey Mountain Road.
And 100 or so homeowners from Virginia 714 packed a commission meeting recently to make sure that they wouldn't be living on Poorhouse Road.
In the first case, the Planning Commission has given the name Turkey Mountain Road to Virginia 677. The private road nearby will be called North Turkey Mountain Road. In the second case, Virginia 714 will be known as Falling Creek Road, an easier appellation to accept.
"The Planning Commission and the county staff as a whole have been genuinely pleased with the entire process and particularly the public's understanding and cooperation," said Garland Page Jr., director of planning. "People have been helpful with suggesting names, but almost to an individual, they have been very understanding that one road can have only one name.
"And they know that somebody has to make a Solomon-like decision eventually on what that name is going to be."
Nevertheless, if county residents still are unhappy with the commission's proposed names, they can circulate petitions to change them. Petitions must have the signatures of at least 60 percent of the people living on a road. The Board of Supervisors will decide appeals.
The Planning Commission will make its final decisions a few days after the public hearing, and once the Board of Supervisors has heard appeals, a one-year moratorium on changing road names will take effect.
Road names are available at all Bedford County libraries. The county will begin installing signs in March in Big Island and will work its way south and west until all county roads have signs, probably in March 1996.
The county has budgeted about $300,000 - taken from a $2 surcharge for 911 service on county residents' telephone bills - to post the signs. Each sign and signpost will cost between $100 and $200 to erect. The telephone surcharge will be phased out or reduced after it has paid for start-up costs for the 911 system.
Major county roads will have the following names: U.S. 460 between Botetourt County and Bedford will be called Colonial Trail Highway. From Bedford to Lynchburg, 460 will be named the Lynchburg-Salem Turnpike.
Virginia 24 will be known as Stewartsville Road west of Virginia 43, which is called Glenwood Drive. Where Virginia 43 and 24 run together, both roads are named Glenwood Drive. Closer to Lynchburg, 24 will be called Wyatts Way.
U.S. 221 will be called Forest Road.
Virginia 122 will be Big Island Highway north of Bedford. South of Bedford and north of 24, it will be known as Booker T. Washington Highway. South of 24, it will be called Moneta Road.
by CNB