As a compliment to other downtown road improvements, College Avenue may transition to a pedestrian-only mall or a one-way street with expanded sidewalk space.
“One of those two will definitely happen,” said Mayor Ron Rordam. “I think it will either be one way or closed altogether, and I’m torn between which one. We have to do a traffic study. In my heart, I would love to see it be closed and to become just a pedestrian mall, but in terms of traffic flow, we aren’t quite sure yet.”
Steve Miller, owner of Mish-Mish and member of the project’s steering committee, said a traffic study was completed in the spring, but results have not yet been reported. From that study, Miller said the town would determine if the road could be closed or which way traffic should flow.
“I think it has great potential, but one of the criteria is that we get a parking garage at the site of the current Squires (Student Center) lot,” Miller said.
The current plans call for the road to be closed from its intersection with Otey Street in front of Squires to the intersection with Main Street. A temporary estimate made in Blacksburg’s 2009 review of the comprehensive plan said the project would cost about $2.5 million.
“The latest proposal was that College Avenue would be designed to be closed, but be available for one-way traffic,” Miller said.
A lack of parking could prohibit the road from closing completely.
Miller said Draper Road would also be partially closed in the project, and the entrance to the proposed parking garage would be near She-Sha Cafe & Hookah Lounge.
If the garage is not built, Miller said College Avenue would feature parking on the Henderson Hall lawn side.
Rordam is hopeful the project will give businesses, such as the Lyric and downtown restaurants, enticing business opportunities.
“If it can’t be closed, it will be one-way, and the sidewalks will be expanded,” Rordam said. “That will give more opportunity to put tables out, and if we can’t close it 24 hours a day, my goal is that as we redo College Avenue — we have bollards that are in place that go into the ground and come out. So, five o’clock on Friday, it’s closed.”
Miller said the change would offer more opportunities for the town to host events such as the Downtown Tailgate, an event held prior to the Nebraska football game this September.
“We could do a lot more of those things if the street were available to be closed or closed completely,” Miller said.
He said more day-to-day benefits would fall to restaurants on the street that would be able to add outdoor dining.
Citizen reaction at a public hearing showed enthusiasm for the project, Miller said.
“When we did the public hearing and they presented the different scenarios, the public voted overwhelmingly to close College Avenue,” Miller said.
Other infrastructure issues also must be resolved, including emergency vehicle access.
Miller said curbs would likely be flattened to offer a more pedestrian-friendly area.
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Main Street and College Ave is a bottleneck already and the proposal is close one or both lanes of traffic? That might work if 3/4 of the towns population didn't have a car or if VT did not have any more home (football) games. Let's be serious and spend our time addressing more important issues like the budget shortfall.
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This area receives a lot of traffic. The squires lot is nearly always full on weekdays and often on weekend nights as people patronize the local downtown establishments. Having the option to make a quick exit off campus via college ave rather than driving back up to Washington allows traffic to disperse. Closing the road once in a while for special events is not a bad idea, and has been done regularly such as the senior day each spring. Closing it permanently is a bad idea. I can tell you now that residents of the GLC will be very upset during construction of a parking garage on top of the squires surface lot area as most all of them park in that lot. Also, taking away the Henderson Lawn would eliminate one of the few remaining nice areas of green space left. Part of aesthetic urban planning should involve something other than concrete and asphalt.
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They closed half of Times Square in New York and now it's beautiful, College Avenue doesn't nearly have that much traffic after all.
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I agree. Why spend a couple million on a project that will close or restrict College Ave. to one lane in the heart of downtown Blacksburg? There is far too much traffic through the downtown area on a daily basis already. Futzing with downtown traffic patterns is a great way to cause big backups in other areas of downtown. It might even disgruntle some of the town's residents.
I don't like the idea of Blacksburg's council trying to expand business opportunities and stimulate economic growth. There's only so much space, and it's getting to the point where there are too many people - particularly students and their cars.
At some point, trying too hard or too much to improve the aesthetic image of Blacksburg will make it an eyesore, and nobody wants that.
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I think this sounds like a great idea!!! I'm a sophomore at VT & I've hated how cramped the tiny sidewalks are on that street and the amount of cars that are on it. I think blocking it permanently would make an excellent area for everyone including businesses and be much safer not worrying about traffic. Also, I think a small parking deck on the Squires Lot would be the best way to solve the parking dilemma.
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No one cares what a sophomore thinks come back in a year if you want your opinion seriously considered.
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That was rude and I am sure that when you were a sophomore you had an opinion that was worthy of being heard... Didn't your mother ever teach you that if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all
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The whole point of my previous comment: this area is already congested. When travelling SB on North Main Street just past the intersection with Turner Street the left hand lane changes from a through lane to a dedicated left hand turn lane. This movement forces everyone to merge and creates a backup. The same is true for the travelling NB on North Main at Miller Street. Short of widening the road, which is possible and I do not advocate, there was a proposition before to increase the traffic flow on Clay or Progress Streets. This may or may not help.
A comparison to NYC is a little outlandish. NYC has over 8 million people, Blacksburg might have 50,000. NYC is an actual city with grids of blocks. Blacksburg has something resembling blocks but no grid. Broadway is a a "skewed" street and closing it for two blocks probably improved traffic flow by not having another intersection with 7th avenue.
The creation of a parking deck will help with parking but not reduce traffic. More students who rather drive their car than ride the bus will park in the deck. This will most definitely increase traffic. While I like the idea of the deck, the Squires lot along with the Owens lot should not allow student parking.
The clear solution to this problem is to have more bus service and less cars. The problem however is we don't have any more for more buses. Go figure.
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Any more "money"...lol, I need to proofread.
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