Roanoke County hears VDOT plan for Route 220 diverging-diamond interchange and signal upgrades

ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. — The Virginia Department of Transportation told the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors on March 12 that it plans a diverging-diamond interchange at Route 419 and signalization upgrades at four Route 220 intersections, along with bicycle lanes and new sidewalks intended to improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety.

Megan Cronise, assistant director of planning, said the diverging-diamond interchange would be constructed under the existing bridges near the Tanglewood Mall corridor and would remove a northbound Route 220 ramp and reduce some signal phases. She said the package also includes changes at intersections near South Peak, Elmview and Ogden and pedestrian connections that would link to sidewalks built across the corridor.

The project funding for the Route 419 diverging-diamond interchange, Cronise said, is "17 and a half million" dollars; signalization work for four intersections is funded with a reallocated Interstate 73 earmark of $9,800,000. Cronise told the board the combined program had an advertisement target of May 2024, an anticipated contract award in September and construction starting in October or November, with completion on the long end projected in September 2028 once a contractor sets a schedule.

Board members pressed for details on pedestrian accommodations and coordination with local redevelopment applications. Cronise said applicants had provided traffic impact analyses and concurrence letters and that VDOT had built public outreach into the project dating to 2019 and public hearings in 2021.

The presentation addressed design trade-offs: several intersections will use "through-cut" configurations intended to reallocate green time to the primary movement on Route 220; in some locations that results in two-legged crossings rather than four-way crossings. Cronise said those configurations permit flat pedestrian paths within splitter islands and other accommodations designed to reduce risks where people walk along the corridor.

Asked about contracting, Cronise said an earlier advertisement drew a single, high bid and VDOT elected to rebid the signal package combined with the diverging-diamond interchange to yield a single contract that may be staged by the contractor. She also told supervisors that "there are zero county dollars in these projects" and estimated the corridor investment at about $27 million.

The meeting included a police briefing about a recent pedestrian fatality on Franklin Road; the chief of police said the victim was a Roanoke City resident and was not associated with a nearby lodging property and that crash factors made it unlikely the planned improvements would have prevented that particular incident.

The board heard no final vote on the VDOT package during the meeting; staff said further public hearings and plan refinements will continue as the contract schedule is set.