ROANOKE, Va. – The push continues to make a busy road in Roanoke safer. This comes after police say a pedestrian was hit and killed along Williamson Road early Friday morning.
It happened near the Dollar Tree and the old 7-Eleven. Roanoke police say the victim was in the road when he was hit and killed by a driver heading north.
Police say the driver stayed at the scene and is cooperating with authorities. No charges have been filed.
“I was devastated. Totally devastated,” said Valerie Brown, the executive director of the Williamson Road Area Business Association.
She said one deadly crash is too many.
According to Virginia Department of Motor Vehicle data, in the past five years, there have been 550 crashes along Williamson Road. Six of those crashes were deadly.
Brown has been working with the city and area business owners to create a safety improvement plan for the busy street. Together, they recently submitted a $21 million grant proposal through Virginia’s SMART SCALE program to increase safety along a three-mile stretch of Williamson Road.
The plan calls for taking Williamson Road from four lanes down to two, with a center turning lane. They also want to add curbs, sidewalks, and bike lanes.
“We need to make it easier for people to get from one side of the road to the other,” said Brown.
But not everyone in the Williamson Road community is on board with the submitted plan.
“The plan really doesn’t address safety the way it should,” said Bill Tanger, a business owner and co-chair of the newly-founded Williamson Road Community Forum.
He said the existing plan doesn’t address safety and didn’t include community input.
“The City of Roanoke put together a plan that did not reach out to the residential community whatsoever. And also did not capture the majority of the business community,” said Tanger.
The forum has drafted its own safety improvement plan, which includes a walking/biking path along one side of Williamson Road, more street lighting and crosswalks, and better-timed stop lights.
“There are a lot of safety issues that need to happen that haven’t happened,” said Tanger. “We put the responsibility on the city. They’re the ones that need to step up to the plate and it’s long overdue.”
There’s one thing both sides can agree on.
“We’re real concerned about safety,” said Tanger.
”It’s all about safety,” said Brown. “And until we make changes, it’s not going to be safe because obviously what we have is not working.”