Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 23, 1994 TAG: 9404250156
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
But the bridge's closing meant slower going as detours and a backup at Radford's one open interstate exit left some commuters fuming and frustrated. Any detour around Memorial Bridge is likely to add at least 10 miles to the average commute.
While the department's official detour follows major highways, many local commuters took "the road less traveled" to get to work or school Friday morning.
For many, the shortcut of choice was winding Walton Road - which connects Virginia 114 in Montgomery County with U.S. 11 in Plum Creek just east of Radford - though it doesn't come highly recommended.
"It's just so narrow and crooked ... and it's in pretty bad shape from the winter," said Shirley Wilson, who used it Friday to commute from the Dublin area to her job at Radford University. The road, which crosses Crab Creek and contains some steep grades and a switchback or two, also has a railroad crossing.
City resident Glenn Keys, a mechanical engineer at Radford Army Ammunition Plant, said the road's just plain dangerous.
"I think that thing's going to cause some accidents," he said.
The bridge is scheduled to be closed for repairs for several weeks, possibly as long as two months, according to highway officials.
Keys got caught off-guard by the bridge closing after leaving work Thursday evening. The detour on Walton Road on Friday took him an extra 10 or 15 minutes.
Traffic on Norwood Street and U.S. 11 leaving the city's East End through Plum Creek was heavier than usual Friday. Some drivers passed up the Walton Road shortcut to take the official detour along U.S. 11 through Christiansburg and back to Virginia 114 along the U.S. 460 Bypass.
Another of the dangers of using Walton Road is the big problem getting onto Virginia 114 at a historically dangerous intersection with Walton Road and Virginia 659 heading to Prices Fork.
Department of Transportation resident engineer Dan Brugh strongly discouraged motorists from using country byways such as Walton Road to save time.
"We're asking for safety problems if we encourage people to use them," he said, adding that the roads were "not suitable for a large volume of traffic."
Brugh said if problems develop on specific roads, VDOT may take more active steps to discourage their use.
Radford University professor Barbara Chrisley chose a safer route from her Pulaski County home.
"I came down from Dublin to the interstate and came on down to the Tyler Road exit," she said, but "traffic was backed up on the ramp when I got there."
Terry Mooney who works with Wilson at Radford University also took the interstate to Tyler Road and ran into the backup at the ramp. "I left 15 minutes early and got here the same time I usually do, she said.
Chrisley repeated the question on most bridge commuters' minds: "I just wonder how much longer we're going to have to do this." Others were calling Pulaski radio station WPSK (Eagle Country 107) to voice their unhappiness and confusion, a station spokesman said.
Another alternative route - and dubious shortcut - is Hazel Hollow Road, which exits at the bridge on the Fairlawn side. The narrow country way led one of Chrisley's students astray.
Chrisley said the woman - who didn't know the bridge was closed - followed someone with an RU sticker onto Hazel Hollow Road. "They both got lost and ended up in Newbern," Chrisley reported.
Traveling Hazel Hollow Road (to Wilderness Road and Claytor Lake State Park Road to I-81) is probably not for the uninitiated. Once on the interstate, drivers still must bypass the first Radford exit, closed because of bridge repairs on the Virginia 232 overpass. Traffic leaving Radford for Pulaski County may take First Street (Virginia 232) to I-81 south.
Incoming traffic must arrive at Tyler Road (Exit 108).
Not everyone's taking the long way around.
"I drove to the ABC store, parked my truck and walked across the bridge," said jeweler Todd Ratliff, a City Council candidate. He said he'll take his bicycle in the future, if the bridge is going to be closed much longer.
Others also were parking and walking, he said, including a few of the employees at Saint Albans Psychiatric Hospital right across the river.
Jim Wright at the Radford Community Hospital Wellness Center at the Radford end of the bridge said cars parked in the center's lot haven't become a problem yet, but he anticipates it will. He and about half of his employees live on the other side of the river and many hospital workers take advantage of the hospital's day-care center at Saint Albans, a Carilion affiliate.
"It's going to get old real quick," he said.
Some at the blocked bridge Thursday evening wished the proposed Ingles Ferry pedestrian ferry - still on the drawing board - were running.
One Radford wag found humor in the city's predicament: "The bad news is, Taco Bell is on the other side of the river. The good news is, the liquor store's over here."
by CNB