A sea of dirt, rocks and excavated pavement is bordered by fluorescent orange signs warning pedestrians and drivers of the construction on Main Street.
New and seasoned students returning to Virginia Tech for the fall semester will find new routes to restaurants such as The Cellar and Hokie House as work continues outside.
According to Lisa Sedlak, spokeswoman for the town of Blacksburg, the Downtown Master Plan, created in 2001, called for downtown improvements to allow for more pedestrian-friendly travel, public gathering spaces and improved landscapes.
After nearly a decade of debate and planning, actual construction began June 14, 2010 and will gradually reshape the downtown Blacksburg landscape by spring 2012.
When the town council approved the project, it was “concerned about the vibrancy of downtown,” said Adele Schirmer, director of engineering and GIS department for the town. Because there were multiple store vacancies, the council was worried about the direction that the downtown was heading.
“(There was) a strong community desire to keep the downtown a very healthy and vibrant place that is appealing to people,” Schirmer said, noting that those are considered signs of a flourishing area.
To keep Blacksburg the place the council thought it should be, it hired a team of consultants to work up a master plan, which focused on making physical improvements to the downtown, as well as filling an underrepresented niche by showcasing the arts and health.
There was also a recommendation to preserve and renovate historic buildings. There are now shops and studios concentrating on the arts opening downtown.
When the enhancement plan is complete, the stretch of Main Street beginning at College Avenue and extending to the intersection with Prices Fork Road will have only one lane running in each direction with a shared center lane for left turns.
Additionally, the intersection at North Main Street and Prices Fork Road will be replaced with a roundabout.
The existing traffic signals at College Avenue and Turner Street intersections will be replaced and a new traffic signal will be placed at the Alumni Mall intersection.
Pedestrian signals, street lighting and expanded sidewalk areas will be in place.
For example, the sidewalks along the College Avenue extension in front of The Cellar and extending up Main Street will be widened to more than 10 feet for outdoor dining and public gathering space.
The sidewalks will be brick and adorned with modern black benches, landscape planters, trees, lights and trash receptacles.
However, that picture of downtown is years away.
Two local businesses, The Cellar and Hokie House restaurants, as well as many others, are affected by the current construction. Stepping out of their front doors, restaurant staffers find themselves literally face-to-face with construction.
Joe Gillespie, manager at Hokie House, is concerned about clientele’s access to the restaurant.
“We have dirt and machines in front of our building,” Gillespie said. “If I was a customer coming into town from a different state for the football games or something, I personally would be a little discouraged from wanting to go into a business with construction around.”
According to Gillespie, business has been a bit slower, however this could be because not as many people are in Blacksburg during the summer.
He is confident business will increase this semester, not only because students are returning from summer break, but also because of the many home football games scheduled.
Although he is concerned new clientele will not come in because there are no longer parking spots available in front of the restaurant, he is not worried about returning customers.
“As far as our regulars ... we have a very dedicated veteran clientele,” Gillespie said. “We do have the name Hokie involved.”
Kevin Long, manager at The Cellar, also expressed some apprehension toward the construction, which he feels is going to take “entirely too long” and has not only taken up parking spots, but also caused profit and sales losses.
“I feel that the construction is just unsightly and has caused even more parking problems than ever before,” Long said. “However, there is still ample parking in the back of the building.”
There has been recent confusion concerning what the end result will be for the area between The Cellar and Sharkey’s. While Long was under the impression that a tractor-trailer loading dock would take up this space, Schirmer refuted this notion.
Dating back to the initial master plan, there were many ideas considered for the area, one of them being a pedestrian plaza.
However, according to Schirmer, downtown businesses were not willing to give up their parking spots and that road area for the implementation of the plaza. The compromise was a narrower road, wider sidewalks and almost as many parking spots as before.
Prior to construction, Schirmer explained there was already a curb area designated as a loading zone where trucks could unload things such as food and beer for local businesses to receive their supplies.
Despite his current concerns with the parking at Hokie House, Gillespie feels once the project is completed, it will be a positive thing.
“We have already started brainstorming once it is completed with the outdoor seating,” Gillespie said. “We are looking into what we can do as a business ... (like) tables out during the summer and early fall semester to give people something they’ve never experienced at Hokie House.”
Efforts have been made by the town to encourage customers to continue visiting the businesses currently affected by construction.
“Keep going there. Keep going to those businesses,” Sedlak said.