ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601170037
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
Residents of West Creek Manor apartments in Roanoke are a step closer to getting relief from heavy truck traffic to and from Roanoke Electric Steel.
But help is still two years away, and traffic appears likely to worsen before it gets better.
Roanoke City Council agreed Tuesday to seek about $330,000 from the state to build part of an access road to the plant.
Now, the only road to and from the plant, Westside Boulevard, bisects West Creek Manor, a 200-unit apartment complex built after the steel plant opened. Trucks use Westside Boulevard to deliver cut-up vehicles and to haul off finished goods.
The finished-goods loads, which are more numerous, would shift to the planned access road after it is finished in late 1997 or early 1998, according to current plans. The road would connect the plant to the Peters Creek Road extension, a separate project under construction on the city's west side.
City Council put the access road project in motion by voting to apply for state money. The Department of Transportation is scheduled to take up the request March 21, at which time it could furnish 90 percent of the needed funds, leaving about 10 percent - estimated at $32,500 - to be paid by the city. Roanoke Electric Steel would pay for that part of the planned access road on its property.
The access road would support a planned $14 million upgrade of Roanoke Electric Steel, the only steel mill in Virginia. While the access road's completion is about two years away, a new furnace is scheduled to go on line in the spring or summer. When that happens, truck traffic on Westside Boulevard likely will increase, said Brian Wishneff, a consultant to the company.
"We're trying to make the best of a difficult situation," Wishneff said.
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