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

DATE: MONDAY, August 9, 1993                   TAG: 9308090091
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TIME THROWING A CURVE IN U.S. 220 CARS FASTER, TRUCKS BIGGER, BUT ROAD'S SAME

In those days, cars didn't have air conditioning, power steering or power brakes. But while the cars traveling America's roads were changing, U.S. 220 remained essentially the same.

"It was great then, for sure," says Fred Altizer, Virginia Department of Transportation administrator for the Salem District. "When you talked about a four-lane back then, you were talking about much lower speeds, trucks were different and you didn't have as much traffic."

These days, U.S. 220 carries a lot of traffic that early-1950s engineers couldn't have imagined. Four-cylinder cars capable of 120 mph. Trucks pulling double trailers that stretch 70 feet.

The 63 miles of U.S. 220 from Roanoke to the North Carolina line has a higher accident rate than 60-mile spans of similar four-lane U.S. highways in Virginia. U.S. 220's accident rate was 101 per million miles of travel; U.S. 29's accident rate from the North Carolina line to Lynchburg was 97; and U.S. 460's accident rate from Roanoke to Campbell County was 72.

And the high visibility truck accidents that occur frequently on U.S. 220 between Boones Mill and Roanoke add to the public's call that something should be done to improve the road. The tractor-trailer that wrecked and spilled hundreds of cases of beer north of Boones Mill last month is just the latest example.

"The whole stretch of route 220 is dangerous," says Steve Goodwyn, a supervisor with the safety division of the Department of Motor Vehicles, "with the curves and the slopes - plus they're usually traveling faster than 55 mph."

Though U.S. 220's overall accident rate is higher than - but not out of line with - similar four-lane primary roads in Virginia, road experts in the region admit it is a problem.

And, reluctantly, they confess that U.S. 220's twists, turns and dips are something drivers will have to learn to negotiate. They say most of the obvious, less costly solutions - straightening a curve or flattening a knoll - have been done.

The 220 of today is the improved, upgraded version.

"We are very rapidly reaching a point where I don't know if there's many other small things we can do," Altizer said. "To go in there today and build 220 up to current standards would be an extremely costly road project."

In fact, a project that would straighten a particularly twisting part of U.S. 220 just past Red Hill Baptist Church has been removed from the state's six-year plan of roadwork.

That project, if it works its way back into the plans, would end years of traffic-dodging by Pat Hooke and her parents, who live up a driveway at one of the s-curves.

To pull out of the driveway, Hooke said she has to phone a neighbor, who has to run across the road and watch for traffic.

Hooke's parents, John C. and Addie Hall, have tried several approaches over the years.

"I always say a prayer before I run across that road," she said. "We've asked for a sign warning of a private entrance. We've even asked for a mirror.

"At night it's no problem, because you can see the headlights on the guardrail."