Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 19, 1995 TAG: 9504190019
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Not everyone in the Roanoke Valley is riding the Tour DuPont bandwagon.
Street closures have some businesses gearing up to take a loss on May 1, the day of the Roanoke Valley time trial. Others are taking it in stride.
This year's course is identical to last year's. Cyclists will start Stage 5 at the Salem Civic Center and finish on Campbell Avenue at the Roanoke City Market.
Some business owners along the race route are not sure about what access - if any - their patrons will have. Last year, police officers left one lane on part of Brambleton Avenue open.
This year, however, that is not the case.
"There will be no lanes open on the course once we shut it down," said Lt. Ramey Bower of the Roanoke City Police Department's traffic division. "It will be identical to last year, with the exception that Williamson Road will be affected this time."
"You will not be able to drive directly on Brambleton," said Laban Johnson, special events coordinator for the city of Roanoke. "There will be cross-access, so people will be able to cross [Brambleton Avenue] at certain points."
"We're trying to be as flexible as we can and inconvenience people for as little a time as possible," Johnson added.
Business and homeowners in the city of Roanoke have not been officially informed of the Brambleton Avenue, Main Street, Elm Avenue and Campbell Avenue street closures. Roanoke County and Salem sent letters to all who might be affected, Johnson said.
"They have not been notified yet, except for what's in the papers," Johnson said. "They will be individually notified when the time for the race gets closer."
Johnson said city employees will hang notices on the doorknobs of houses and businesses along the race route, informing them of the specifics of the street closures.
The streets will close at about 11 a.m., and will remain closed until the last cyclist passes each checkpoint, Bower said. The time trial could take three to four hours.
Last year, the city set up a canopy in the parking lot of B & D Comic Shop on Elm Avenue. Vendors sold hot dogs, T-shirts and other souvenirs, and many spectators came over to watch.
"We'd like to see something like that happen again," said Terry Baucom, the shop's owner.
"We lose some [business] because of the street being closed," she said, "but then we get some back because of people who wouldn't normally come. It evens out."
Baucom added she hasn't heard of any problems.
"I haven't heard anyone really complain," she said. "And you always hear the complaints first."
Things are a little different on Brambleton Avenue.
"Last year, all we heard were complaints," said Donna Woodson, co-owner of Good Looks, a nail and skin care salon on Brambleton.
Woodson was notified about the street closing on April 1, but has not been told the specifics.
The salon has 20 standing appointments for May 1, but if the street does close completely, Woodson said they will have to cancel most of them. She said the Tour will "ruin" her business for that day.
"I don't want to be all negative," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, it does nothing for our business."
The Packaging Store seems to get a little busier around this time, said Mike Puckett, manager of the Brambleton Avenue packaging and shipping store. "Last year we did a lot of shipping of bicycle parts and bicycles," he said. "That helped."
Puckett said he hasn't heard anything negative about the Tour coming through Roanoke. "Last year it didn't seem to hamper anything," he said. "The street was awful busy."
One Brambleton business owner sees things a little differently.
"When [the Tour] comes through, during those hours it will shut me down," said Doug Bashum, owner of Brambleton Hardware.
Bashum will fire up the grill for a company picnic. "We took a two-hour break [last year] and cheered on the racers," said Bashum, who was notified about the street closing two months ago.
"I'm in full support of the Tour coming through Roanoke," Bashum said. "It hurts me for a little bit, but in the long range it's great for the valley. It's just a small grain of sand on the beach when you look at the big picture."
One doctor's office on Brambleton hasn't given the time trial much thought because it hasn't heard anything from the city.
"We may have to close the office for those hours," said Angela Deacon, receptionist for Dr. Francis X. Moffit.
"We won't be able to see our patients, basically."
If there's an emergency, Deacon said that Moffit would have to meet the patient at the hospital. "He's a doctor. I'd hope they would let him through," Deacon said.
Lumsden and Associates, an architect and engineering firm on Brambleton, is "not really" affected by the street closure.
"We're able to schedule what we need to do and not do," said Kirk Lumsden, president of the firm.
"People in the office bring a lunch and they sit outside and watch the bikers go by. So that's not a problem, either," he said.
Lumsden said he was notified of the street closing in early February.
"Our customers are somewhat involved with the Tour DuPont so they know about it already. We are then able to schedule around it," he said.
The only problem Lumsden sees is if the Tour gets "bigger and bigger."
"But talking to people about it now, it's not that much of an inconvenience," he said.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***