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

DATE: TUESDAY, October 3, 1995                   TAG: 9510030081
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TRUCK SCALE CLOSINGS A SAFETY MOVE

Q: Why are the new truck scales on Interstate 81 closed so often? In the last few weeks, I've seen them shut down three or four times at least. That's an awfully large investment to leave sitting idle.

J.K., Lexington

A: The paving job that's taking the bumps out of Botetourt County's stretch of I-81 has caused the weighing station to be closed sometimes.

Closing the scales, recently updated at a cost of $9 million, is a safety measure.

When traffic is reduced to one lane while paving crews are working, there's little room for trucks to pull out of the weighing station safely.

It's also possible you may have seen the scales closed when no work was going on; that can occur when weather forces a change in the paving schedule.

The scales' operating schedule is less flexible than the weather. Crew members are assigned elsewhere when paving work is scheduled.

The Transportation Department hopes to finish applying a smoother ride in the area of the scales by Thanksgiving. If the weather gets too cold for putting down asphalt, the job will be carried over to spring.

Completion of the entire Botetourt paving job isn't expected before the end of next summer.

Wheelwright job

Q: What has happened to the cannon on the Roanoke County Courthouse lawn? My husband loves cannons, and it bugs him that it's gone. Will it be put back?|

|A.H., Roanoke A: The cannon - actually a captured German field piece from World War I - has a future.

It will not be on the old courthouse lawn, though.

Since 1988, that building has belonged to Roanoke College, which believes its campus is not the appropriate place for a relic of war.

The gun belongs to American Legion Post 19 in Salem. Mac Green, head of the post's unofficial cannon committee, said the carriage's wooden spokes and wheels were so rotten they were barely standing.

The piece is in storage now, awaiting the attention of a wheelwright who can make two wheels and the 12 intricately fitted wooden spokes in each. That job may take a while; the wheelwright craft's ranks are few in this year of Windows 95.

However long it takes, the post plans to restore the cannon and find a new home for it. Some sites have been suggested, but are less than ideal, Green said.

The new Memorial Stadium is out, because the post already is erecting a granite memorial there. Parks and playgrounds are out, because the gun, bearing shrapnel and other scars of war, has too many sharp edges for kids to climb safely.

But a new home will be found for Salem's memorial piece to World War I. Green is confident of that.

Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.

by CNB