ROANOKE, VA – Part of Roanoke City’s plan for Williamson Road is to take it from four lanes to two - a change that some disagree with.
10 News spoke to members of a new community forum Tuesday who tell me why they think the city is making a poor decision.
Clay McClintock lives along Williamson Road and is co-chair of the new Williamson Road Community Forum.
He and other members are against the city’s proposed pipeline project for the road.
“If we go to this, we’re going to lose businesses and we’re going to become a ghost town street,” McClintock said.
The pipeline plan would take the road from four lanes down to two, causing safety concerns for McClintock.
“They’re going to get tired of trying to get up the road, and they’re going to start using the backroads, which now makes your neighborhoods unsafe because you’re going to have people cutting through there at high rates of speed,” he said.
The Community Forum has its own ‘Streamline Plan,’ which co-chair Bill Tanger says is more effective. The plan includes better lighting and pedestrian crosswalks, and a shared bike and pedestrian pathway.
“Improve the traffic flow, and allow for pedestrian and bicycle passage where it’s needed,” Tanger said.
Tanger said cutting the road down to two lanes will cause businesses to go elsewhere, along with shoppers.
“We’re both doing an offensive approach with our community forum to get things done, but also we’re on the defense to stop the bad things that might happen with a road diet,” Tanger said.
Williamson Road Area Business Association Executive Director Valerie Brown is in support of the city’s pipeline plan and said safety is also her top concern.
“Being able to get people from one side of the road to the other, and being a safe place for families to be, because we have a lot of families in our neighborhoods and they would love to shop, and we’d love to have them shopping on Williamson Road, but right now it is a work in progress,” Brown said.
The Williamson Road Community Forum said they would like to sit down with city leaders to compare plans and see if a different decision can be reached.
Tell us what you think could be done to improve safety on Williamson Road in the form below.