ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – Even on a rainy and overcast day, cars are parked at the McAfee Knob trailhead parking lot. On a sunny weekend, finding a spot can be nearly impossible.
“When it’s a nice day, good luck,” said Andrew Powers, who likes to hike the trail and lives near the trailhead. “It’s usually double-parked. There are people in the center and all the way down the hill. It’s a cluster of people.”
Roanoke County Police is reminding folks to plan ahead.
“When you have these beautiful weekends in the fall, everybody wants to go hiking and parking is not designed to accommodate that,” said Sgt. Spencer Hoopes.
Parking along Route 311 is only allowed in certain spots.
“Have all those wheels off the pavement,” said Hoopes.
And no parking signs mean no parking, otherwise, you could be ticketed or worse.
“If it’s dangerous enough that it’s causing a serious hazard to other traffic on the roadway, it’s likely that vehicle will be towed,” said Hoopes.
Roanoke County recently opened the Catawba Greenway with 25 extra parking spots. If you can find a spot, getting to the trail can be another challenge.
“That’s a curvy mountain road with a 55 mile an hour speed limit, so I can’t imagine anybody feels really comfortable about crossing that road when there’s already limited visibility,” said Hoopes.
Plans to build a pedestrian bridge over Rt. 311 is a year ahead of schedule. VDOT spokesperson Jason Bond said construction on the $2.8 million handicap accessible bridge is set to begin in the fall of 2023 and should be finished the following fall.
“There are some crosswalks. There are some flashing beacons. There are some rumble strips. All of those have been put out there to help enhance safety in the interim, but the pedestrian bridge is really the long-term solution for improving safety at this location,” said Bond.
Powers said, if you’re parking, use common sense.
“As long as you’re parking somewhere that’s legal to park, then that’s okay,” said Powers. “But use your own judgment. Don’t be ‘that’ guy.”
Police are asking drivers to not block the fire road or spots for emergency vehicles. They recommend you carpool, Uber or Lyft.