Route 220 improvements moving forward with $79 million price tag

BOTETOURT COUNTY (WSLS 10) - VDOT has been approved $79 million to make safety improvements to one of Botetourt County's most dangerous roads.

VDOT says there have been several deadly crashes this year alone along a nine and a half mile stretch of Route 220 between Eagle Rock and Iron Gate.

VDOT says, for a two lane road, 220 sees a lot of traffic.

"This is a through road, so we average about 55 hundred vehicles per day on this roadway. A lot of that is truck traffic," said VDOT Spokesperson Jen Ward.

Ward says that traffic can cause congestion, and sometimes that leads to accidents.

"It was obvious to us from crash data that we needed to look at the road and make some safety improvements," said Ward.

Dave Dew says he lives right off Route 220 in Gala, and he's no stranger to the squealing tires.

"We've had a lot of deaths and other things that have happened because of the narrowness of the culverts, and so that's being replaced now, so that's a step improvement," said Dew.

An improvement, but Dew says he came out Thursday to fight for an extra turn lane near his home.

Right now, there's an option to eliminate it in the plans.

"I'm kind of disappointed that that option is out there, because I was really hoping that we would have the turning lane," said Dew.

Other residents were concerned with the safety of the construction crews who will be stationed along the route for the next several years.

"There's no posted speed limits. There should be one at Gala church before you get on the road there and one at the bridge across from the James River," said Mark Sloan, who lives near Route 220.

Ward says, as VDOT searches for a contractor to work with, comments like those will not be falling on deaf ears.

"We want those comments, we want that feedback. We show those, look over those, share it with the contractor, whoever is the one who wins the bid, and we can sometimes negotiate things, look at things as we progress on the project, as we're designing it," said Ward.

VDOT hopes the construction could begin sometime between fall of 2017 and spring of 2018.

VDOT wants to widen the roadway and shoulders, put rumble strips down to alert drivers, and straighten a dangerous curve in the road.