News and Views

The Roanoke Times : VDOT seeking more thoughts on Blacksburg's U.S. 460, North Main fix

BLACKSBURG — The Virginia Department of Transportation is inviting the public to get a look at a design intended to help lower dangers at the intersection of U.S. 460 and North Main Street.

The transportation agency is hosting a design public hearing on the unpopular “R-cut” plan on Aug. 31 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Blacksburg Community Center on Patrick Henry Drive. A diagram and brief summary of the improvement are available at virginiadot.org’s Salem district section.

Blacksburg Town Council also received an update on the project during a work session earlier this month.

Originally approved in 2015, the R-cut eliminates left turns onto 460 for drivers coming from North Main and Farmingdale Lane. The project provides an extended merge lane for North Main drivers looking to travel westbound — toward Giles County — on U.S. 460. VDOT officials are also considering closing nearby Bishop Road’s connection to the bypass, but they said that move will depend on available funding.

“It would allow us to extend the acceleration lane by several hundred feet,” VDOT’s Salem District Project Development Engineer Tommy DiGiulian told the council, in reference to closing Bishop Road.

The R-cut is budgeted to cost $3.3 million and will be covered with state money. The project is scheduled to start in fall 2019 and expected for completion in late 2020.

The intersection, ranked by VDOT as the ninth most dangerous in the Salem District, has long drawn concerns for prompting vehicles from North Main or Farmingdale to cross and turn onto 460’s highway lanes where other cars often travel in excess of 60 mph. Critics have also said the bypass’ design at the intersection can make yielding to cross traffic challenging.

The R-cut, however, never received overwhelming support from the public or Blacksburg officials due to fears that it will only move present dangers to other nearby intersections.

Progress on the R-cut was delayed for more than a year due the public and town attempting to get Virginia transportation officials to adopt an alternate proposal to replace the intersection with a grade-separated interchange. The Commonwealth Transportation Board, which approves statewide transportation projects, decided against the interchange and cited costs among the chief concerns.

VDOT would like to get more public input to see if any tweaks or small modifications to the R-cut should be made, said Salem District spokesman Jason Bond.

“We’re looking for information that might help us in finalizing the design,” he said. “We’re considering closing the connection of Bishop Road to 460. That will depend on the availability of funding. We would like some input on whether people would be concerned about that connection closing, if people support the project, don’t support the project, or if they’d like to see additional modifications.

“But this is the concept we’re moving forward with.”

Bond said the estimated cost of the Bishop Road closing is an additional $350,000.

Under the R-cut, a North Main driver looking to travel eastbound on 460 — toward Christiansburg or Virginia Tech — would first need to turn right on the highway and either turn around at the intersection with Coal Bank Hollow Road or make a direct U-turn at Fortress Drive.

Westbound drivers from Farmingdale would first turn right and then use a U-turn that VDOT will install somewhere between Farmingdale and the Toms Creek Road interchange.

The North Main ramp used to enter and travel westbound on 460 will be eliminated. Currently, North Main forks just before it connects to the bypass.

Read the full story from The Roanoke Times. 
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