ROANOKE, Va. – Significant changes are coming to Route 419 from Grandin Road Extension to Brambleton Avenue, a busy area with homes, businesses, and about 26,000 cars going through there every day.
Construction is set to take place in 2027.
On Thursday night, Roanoke County and VDOT are hosting a community meeting at Oak Grove Elementary School at 5 p.m., where you can learn more about the project.
Here’s what the improvements are to the 419 area from Grandin Road Extension to Brambleton Avenue:
The first will add sidewalks between Grandin Road Extension and Glen Heather Drive. They also plan on restricting crossing U-turns at Glen Heather Drive, and at Stoneybrook Drive. The final change will add pedestrian signals with crosswalks at Route 419/Postal Drive and at Route 419/ Brambleton Avenue.
Most of these changes are intended to improve pedestrian safety.
“We’re fortunate not to have pedestrian crashes at those locations, but we know that there are needs for pedestrian accommodations in those locations,” said Roanoke County’s Assistant Director of Planning Megan Cronise.
However, Cronise said in a study VDOT conducted in 2021, it found there were a fair number of crashes in the areas where they’ve proposed restricted crossing U-turns at Stoneybrook Drive and Glen Heather Drive.
While there have been some concerns about these changes, Cronise has this message.
“So these are proven methods to improve traffic flow and safety. So while it means a little bit of a change in the way that drivers are typically going, it’s also a lot safer than crossing Route 419 with heavy traffic volumes and 45-mile-an-hour speeds or greater. So it’s something that we want to implement to make sure that we’re having fewer crashes and fewer fatalities on our roadways,” said Cronise.
We asked some of you what you think of these changes.
“Sidewalks I think could help a lot in terms of keeping some of the foot traffic and some of the bicycle traffic,” said Joe Faulkner.
Some residents think Route 419 is fine though.
“There are other roads in my opinion that need some construction, but I think this is a great road. It’s well maintained,” said Phyllis Dimmick.
These changes to 419 near Oak Grove are part of the Oak Grove Center Plan, which was adopted by the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors in 2021 to reimagine the area over 20 years.
“So, there’s a number of recommendations included in it. I focus on transportation improvements because that’s what I do. But we heard a lot about needed streetscape improvements, multimodal improvements, as well as what kinds of businesses people would like to see here, and what the housing needs [and] housing desires are for this area. So that when it’s time for property owners to redevelop and they have a guide for what Roanoke County is looking for,” said Cronise.
Meanwhile, Roanoke County is also working on other transportation projects. One of the other projects is adding a diverging diamond interchange to the 419 Town Center. The county is also working on phase two of the Streetscape Improvements along Route 419 from Ogden Road to Starkey Road. Construction should start in 2026 or 2027.
Cronise said they would also like to extend sidewalks from the Grandin Road Extension Intersection at Oak Grove Elementary School out to Keagy Road, but they have not received funding for this yet.
Again, there’s a community meeting taking place tonight, March 13, at 5 p.m. at Oak Grove Elementary School.