Neighbors and accident victim’s family say road needs to change

By Lindsey Henley
WSLS10 Reporter
Published: July 16, 2008

    Three days after her wedding, Justina Anderson could have lost it all.
    “She’s doing a whole lot better,“ Ronnie Anderson, her new husband, said.
    Justina’s dad, Johnny Cross, was one of the first on the scene of the accident that almost took her life.
    “Honestly, I thought that was the last time I was going to see her alive.  She was pretty beaten up,“ Cross said.
    It’s just the latest accident on Newport Road in Catawba.
    According to VDOT there have been 23 accidents in the first two miles of the road in the past five years.
    The Flanary’s live on a dangerous turn and have fixed their fence seven times since August.
  “You could be in the house and doing something and you hear the noise of a tire, and you’re praying to god [the car] stayed on the road,“ Jayne Flanary said.
    The road doesn’t have a posted speed limit, so by Virginia law drivers aren’t allowed to go over 55mph.  As someone who’s never taken the turn before, I could only go about 25mph around it. 
    After a Roanoke County deputy wrecked last November, neighbors got in touch with VDOT.
    The department did a speed study and is planning to lower the speed limit. 
    “We feel like having them slow down to 40 mph will make it a little bit easier to slow down in those curves,“ Heidi Coy of VDOT said.
    It’s a change some think may not be enough.
    “Speed limit signs aren’t going to help on this road.  Nobody obeys them up here.  There’s nobody to enforce them,“ Ronnie Anderson said.
    Flanary believes there’s only one solution, and that’s to fix the road.
    “The road is wrong.  I’m not an engineer.  You can sit in the front of this and watch the cars wobble,“ Flanary said.
    As Justina’s husband and father look at pictures of the accident, they can only hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
    “I’d like to see something done before a parent or a loved one has to come out here and not be as lucky as me,“ Cross said.
    As for neighbors, they’ve put a little angel out on the fence in their yard to watch after anyone who takes the turn, as they hope the turn doesn’t take anyone else.