VDOT wants to make your drive along U.S. Route 220 between Roanoke and Martinsville a lot smoother.
After a public hearing held Wednesday night, VDOT will be improving seven intersections, four in Roanoke/Roanoke County, two in Franklin County, and one in Henry County.
Here’s a breakdown of all the intersections that will be changing:
- Southern Hills Drive/Valley Avenue in Roanoke/Roanoke County
- Pheasant Ridge Road/Crossbow Circle in Roanoke/Roanoke County
- Buck Mountain Road/Stable Road in Roanoke/Roanoke County
- Clearbrook Village Lane/Indian Grave Road in Roanoke County
- Wirtz Road in Franklin County
- Sontag Road/Cassell Drive in Franklin County
- Dyer Street in Henry County
VDOT has studied the intersections and believes adding a thru-cut to redirect the thru-traffic on side streets to turn right or left or make an U-turn directly into a business will reduce delays.
This would only reroute 1% of traffic and will allow everyone who uses those intersections more green time. To be specific, according to VDOT it will reduce delays by 20%.
VDOT spokesperson Jason Bond said last fall they received 380 comments from a survey on this $16.1 million project and are addressing some of those concerns.
“We have made some modifications to the design and now we are coming back sharing these revised designs with more information to sort of clarify what this project is all about,” said Bond.
Bond also mentioned this improvement will cost 10% of the typical cost of widening a road. For information on the project, click here.
The project is expected to start in late 2023 and should only take about a year to finish.
Comments have to be postmarked, emailed to Route220Intersections@VDOT.Virginia.gov or submitted online by May 1, 2021.
Mail comments to Mr. Brett Elledge, PE, Project Manager, Virginia Department of Transportation, 731 Harrison Avenue, Salem, VA 24153.
If you can’t watch the virtual public hearing it will be recorded so you can watch at a later time. Click here to access the virtual public hearing.