Courtesy of the town of Blacksburg.
Students and residents can expect to see some major changes to the downtown area taking shape this summer, but local business owners will notice hassles such as traffic restrictions long before the transformation is complete.
Related: Take our poll about roadwork downtown
A project to improve downtown roads and sidewalks will begin construction this summer, affecting the stretch of North Main Street from College Avenue to Kabrich Street. It will reduce the road from two lanes in both directions to one lane in
both directions, widen and brick the sidewalks and place shade trees and decorative lighting that will match the rest of downtown. The intersection of Main Street and Prices Fork Road will be replaced with a roundabout.
“We are still waiting for federal authorization, but we are hoping to be under construction by June or July,” said Brandon Steele, Blacksburg’s urban transportation manager.
With a total cost estimated at $11.2 million, construction on the project is expected to take at least two years.
“Visually it will look better, and traffic flow will be better. It will be a suitable entrance for Virginia Tech’s Performing Arts Center,” said Leslie Hager-Smith, a Blacksburg Town Council member.
The project is intended to make the street more amenable to pedestrians and integrated with the rest of downtown.
“There is room for improvement. For example, currently it is not very pedestrian friendly,” Steele said. “Our goal is to extend downtown to the Prices Fork area and to improve pedestrian safety.”
According to the Virginia Department of Transportation, there were a total of 151 vehicle related accidents on this stretch of North Main Street between Jan. 1, 2004 and April 23, 2008. Out of these, 16 involved pedestrians or bicycles.
Among the businesses that now line this stretch of North Main Street, few are happy about the upcoming changes, and many are worried about how the two-year period of construction will affect business.
“It’s going to be a detriment to the businesses of Blacksburg,” said Stan Davis of Eats Natural Foods. “If it’s more difficult to get to the business — people just aren’t going to come.”
Eats Natural Foods has been in Blacksburg for 36 years and is currently located at the intersection of Main Street and Prices Fork Road, which will soon be replaced by a roundabout.
The traffic circle is another aspect of the project that some disagree with.
“I think they might work in other places, but I don’t think it will work here,” said William Smith, manager of Blacksburg Auto Parts on North Main. “I think it will put a lot of traffic on the back streets for people trying to avoid this mess.”
For Scott Erlich, manager of Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea, the long period of construction near his business is a major source of stress. He is particularly worried about the permanent constriction of North Main.
“I don’t want to be negative, but it’s a four-lane road and they want to make it a two-lane road,” Erlich said. “My guess is that’s going to make it harder to get here, and I can’t see how that’s going to affect my business for the better.”
A version of this article appeared in the Apr 1 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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Just another example of the anti-business stance of the Blacksburg town council. It they think a performing arts center is going to be an economic success they are sadly mistaken. Just ask Roanoke. And they wonder why most of the public sees them as anti-business. At some point instead of hugging the trees, we will have to cut them down and sell for firewood to support the town.
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I'm all for making downtown a nicer place for pedestrians but this is not the way to go about it. I commute through downtown Blacksburg almost everyday to get to places and traffic is already bad enough because of the bottleneck past the intersection of prices fork and mainstreet because from two lanes into one. Now they are talking about reducing the lanes past prices fork! That is going to worsen traffic in Blacksburg not improve it! I will now have to go very out of the way to get there via 460 or patrick henery to get to the same place. This is dumb.
For the future sake of Blacksburg, you need people to be able to get to the town first for there to be pedestrians! There is nothing past college avenue that needs to be pedestrian friendly, what Mcdonalds and Wendys? Come on Blacksburg!
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With the worsening of traffic, this will also hurt businesses since people will just want to avoid downtown traffic jams and go elsewhere i.e. Christiansburg ect.
I've walked downtown blacksburg on foot many times and often go to downtown restaurants and as a student, I don't find any more trouble than any other town unless people have a problem with waiting 30 seconds or less at the crosswalk.
This will make it very hard for commuters to get to campus and worsen rush hour.
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Finally, America is waking up to the glorious innovation of round-a-bouts.
Unfortunately, most people in America drive way too cautiously and actually stop at a round-a-bout then look to the left, disturbing the flow of traffic.
Hopefully with these learning curves smoothed out, America can enjoy the usefullness of round-a-bouts in larger and more uses throughout the country.
They keep traffic flowing instead of sitting at lights and also make those pesky traffic cameras obsolete.
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"Unfortunately, most people in America drive way too cautiously and actually stop at a round-a-bout then look to the left, disturbing the flow of traffic."
Which is precisely why they should not implement it and why it will worsen traffic! Good idea in theory, bad in practice.
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I'm sure that if people get used to the roundabout and are comfortable with the flow pattern, it will work acceptably.
Here's the problem which doesn't seem to have been considered: Every August, Blacksburg sees an influx of 20,000 residents, 5000-6000 (15% of the entire population) of them have never driven here and many have just 2 years of driving experience. Blacksburg, as a community, will NEVER have the chance to get used to a high volume traffic circle because of the high turnover of its population. Plus, a wreck in a roundabout can be far more constricting than in a 4 lane intersection.
For most of the day (9a-6p) it takes less time to get from 1500 S Main to Christiansburg shopping than it takes to get to 1500 N Main (yes, I've timed it). I don't see this helping.
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