Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 8, 1995 TAG: 9507100037
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SHAWSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Oldtown Road separates Shawsville Middle and High schools and serves as a walkway for about 560 students a day. On June 26, the board heard a proposal to close a section of that road to cars to better ensure students' safety.
Citizens can comment on that proposal Monday night.
Children cross Oldtown Road throughout the school day, said Shawsville High School Principal Nelson Simpkins.
"High schoolers must cross the street to the middle school for lunch in the cafeteria," he said Friday. "Sixth- and seventh-graders go across to the high school for band, art, music, physical education."
Dan Brugh, resident engineer for the Virginia Department of Transportation, said in June that he's concerned about closing a through road. Oldtown Road, which predates U.S. 460, loops the highway and passes through much of Shawsville's business and historic district.
The board will consider four safety options: installing a railroad-like gate system, using moveable barricades during school hours, adding stoplights, or closing the section permanently.
Simpkins said he knew of only positive responses from the community on the precautions and that it's up to area residents to choose.
One Shawsville resident said he believes in childrens' safety, but that tax-paying citizens should have access to all roads.
The proposed closing, whether temporary or permanent, would block only the section of road between the schools. Residents who live on Shawnee and Noahs Drive - two dead-end roads on the North side of the schools - would have to drive out to U.S. 460 and circle around to reach the rest of Oldtown Road.
The push for improved safety measures began almost a decade ago.
In 1988, a school accreditation group came to Shawsville and recommended Oldtown Road be closed off immediately, saying "the safety of school children ... is in jeopardy."
Simpkins said some improvements have been made through the years. School buses that several years ago unloaded children on the road now stop in the side parking lot. Fences and concrete paths have been laid to guide students away from the street.
"But those measures aren't necessarily going to keep a child from running into the street," Simpkins said.
In 1992, a sixth-grader ran into the road and was struck by a car driven by a high school student. He didn't suffer any severe injuries.
The board also is expected to act on Smith Village Mobile Home Park's request to expand by 25 spaces for a total of 185 units.
Supervisors tabled the issue at the June 26 meeting after citizens questioned whether the park met requirements set forth in its original special use permit, granted in 1985.
Since the meeting, zoning administrator Jeff Scott has inspected the park and found it is in compliance with the original permit.
Staff writer Betty Hayden contributed to this report.
by CNB