ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, March 14, 1997                 TAG: 9703140006
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: TOM ANGLEBERGER THE ROANOKE TIMES

A LONG ROAD PROJECT - DEPOT STREET CONSTRUCTION STILL ON TRACK

For more than a year, workers have been widening Depot Street. The job could be done this summer.

Construction on Depot Street in Christiansburg may seem to be taking forever, but it won't.

In fact, Virginia Department of Transportation officials say the Depot Street widening and extension project, which began in December 1995, is ahead of schedule.

Resident assistant engineer David Clark said the construction is running 4 percent ahead of schedule and could be completed by July. So far, he said, it has only run slightly over its nearly $4 million budget.

When construction is complete, Depot Street will have four lanes in the two-thirds of a mile running from North Franklin Street to Radford Street to West Main Street. The intersections will also have turn lanes and new traffic signals. The project includes better water, sewer and storm sewer lines, as well as sidewalks.

The Depot Street upgrade is designed to relieve downtown traffic congestion and speed travel for drivers en route from Christiansburg to Radford via U.S. 11 or to Riner and Floyd County along Virginia 8.

"It's been a real headache to a lot of folks, but ... I think it's going to be well worth the effort," Christiansburg Town Manager Lance Terpenny said. "It's going kind of slow, but I'm not surprised by that because of the amount of rock."

Not everyone has been happy with the pace of the project.

Stuart Arbuckle, manager of the Pizza Inn at Depot and Franklin streets, says it has been rough.

"It's been long; it's been hard. We hope we see a finish in the near future," he said. The restaurant's sign was unlighted for weeks and actually on the ground for a time, he said.

However, he said he feels lucky because his customers have been willing to pass through the construction zone to get to his restaurant.

Terpenny understands why some people are complaining.

"It is bumpy, it is annoying, it is time consuming," he said, adding that urban projects like this often have plenty of difficulties. Keeping traffic moving and installing new utilities are always problems in this type of situation, he said.

"Every urban project [receives] its fair share of complaints that go along with it," he said. "In all fairness to the contractor, I think they are doing a superb job." DLB Inc. is the contractor.

The project is part of VDOT's thoroughfare program. Under this, said Terpenny, major road projects are paid for almost entirely by the state.

"It's a very active program. It's a real benefit to localities," he said. Christiansburg's next thoroughfare project will be Virginia 114.

In the case of the Depot Street project, Town Council determined the need for the work and requested that VDOT do it. Council approved the project in 1993, despite objections from some residents.

LENGTH: Medium:   63 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  ALAN KIM THE ROANOKE TIMES. Depot Street construction is
          running 4 percent ahead of schedule and could be completed by July, 
          officials say. color.