Final draft of the Route 419 redesign plans revealed

ROANOKE COUNTY (WSLS 10) - Roanoke County revealed its plan for the next 20 years of development along the Route 419 corridor to a crowd of hundreds Thursday night at the South County Library.

The designs show the county's desire to eliminate parking for more walking areas and to break up Tanglewood Mall entirely.

The county's consultant, Stantec, said people could be seeing a lot of that development in the next five years.

Most people WSLS 10 spoke with are excited to see the area revitalized, but some want to make sure their mobility needs are taken into account.

The redesign plans focus on changing everything about the 419 corridor, starting with the roads to get there.

That is something Tom Wilson, who lives nearby, says is good news.

"Every time you come down through here, somebody's trying to cut in front of you, cause an accident. that would open up the traffic tremendously and ease some of the traffic," said Wilson.

The plans have traffic funneling through a diverging diamond intersection, just like the one recently built near the Valley View Mall, and like Valley View, Wilson hopes the development will bring Tanglewood a bigger variety of stores and restaurants.

"When we bring people in to look around, it's one of those places that they don't like to see because of the heavy traffic and no way to walk, no place to go, the mall is tired. it doesn't build up our area the way it should, because Roanoke is a great place to live," said Wilson.

David Dixon with Stantec said to get that development started, the county will need to advertise.

"The marketing campaign that the county is going to need to do i think is to go around the country and tell folks who like to develop places like this that this opportunity is here," said Dixon.

An opportunity for an open air town center.

Meanwhile, some say the plans are not addressing some major concerns.

Stephen Grammer is disabled, and spoke through his caretaker.

"Why don't they concentrate now more on what the need is for the disabled?... They commented on it, but they don't say exactly how they're going to do it," said Grammer.

Dixon addressed that concern, and said a new center might help the disabled and elderly.

"There aren't a lot of places where you can get the kind of critical mass of folks who are older, maybe have disabilities, to support services that are close by that maybe you could walk to or somebody could help you get to that are convenient," said Dixon.

In addition, Dixon said a new center would cater to a nightlife and cultural scene he said the area desperately needs.

"Those markets are here, and this is a great opportunity to meet them," said Dixon.

The plans will go before the planning commission in May, and if approved, before the Board of Supervisors in June.

The public will have the opportunity to offer further comment on the 419 website.