Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 29, 1990                   TAG: 9006300462
SECTION: SMITH MOUNTAIN TIMES                    PAGE: SMT-16   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MONETA                                LENGTH: Short

TRAFFIC COUNT BEGINS IN MONETA

Moneta residents have begun their annual around-the-clock traffic count at the Norfolk Southern railroad crossing on Virginia 122 in Bedford County.

Organized by the Moneta Rurtians, the traffic counters will be gathering information to convince state highway officials of the need for an overpass on one of the main routes to Smith Mountain Lake.

Last year, the traffic counters logged about 6,000 cars per day during the summer tourist season.

With no overpass or alternate route, trains cut off all traffic - including emergency vehicles - leading in and out of this community.

The 1989 traffic count, which involved 80 volunteers, won a national award for transportation at the Ruritan National Convention in Nashville, Tenn.

The Virginia Transportation Board has allocated $100,000 for preliminary engineering of an overpass or bypass in the 1992-93 primary road budget. Right-of-way acquisition is scheduled to begin in September 1994, according to a Department of Transportation spokeswoman in Salem.