People who live in a northeast Roanoke neighborhood say they’ve been waiting years for answers about a construction project next door — and so far, they’re still waiting.
A tip to the WSLS 10 News Help Center led reporters to Nelms Road NE, where an unfinished connector road cuts directly into a residential cul-de-sac, feeds through an active construction site, and connects to Old Mountain Road NE.
‘That’s why I bought this house’
Patrick Manna, who lives on the cul-de-sac, says he chose the location deliberately.
“I bought it because it was a cul-de-sac. It was my father who had dementia and he used to like to walk up and down the street. It’s a safer street. That’s why I bought this house, because it’s a cul-de-sac,” Manna said.
Now, Manna worries the construction project could permanently change the neighborhood he carefully chose.
“They’re going to cut through into my cul-de-sac which I paid extra money to get in. And they’re gonna mess up the entire traffic pattern up there that will cause problems for me getting out of my drive and the whole frontage of my house,” he said.
Next door, Cassandra Remy — who didn’t want to appear on camera — feels the same way, especially when she thinks about the kids who play outside.
“There are so many people who, children who play, it’s gonna be a headache. A lot of traffic and noise...we chose a cul-de-sac to live on for the quietness,” she said.
Her son plays basketball in front of the house, and that worries her too.
“My son still plays basketball. So he plays in front of the house...he may have his headphones on and not paying attention...it would be a lot of traffic,” Remy said.
Manna says he doesn’t mind the construction of a new subdivision near his home. Both Manna and Remy just want to know whether or not the dead end they purposely chose to live on is going to be converted into a busy street.
Officials respond, developer pushes back
10 News reached out to the City of Roanoke, Roanoke County and developer R.P. Fralin. The city never responded.
Roanoke County confirmed Phase 1 was approved May 1, 2025 for 47 single-family homes — but no building permits have been issued. The county said any further questions should be directed to the developer.
Fralin said the rezoning was approved in late February 2021, but the first grading map wasn’t approved until December 2025. Delays came from high paving demand and a need to reengineer parts of the site.
“We have been delayed due to some internal logistical issues our paving company has experienced due to such high demand in paving,” Fralin said. “Further, we had to reengineer some of the grading on the site as the mapping topography did not match the actual topography, but this is not unusual for site development.”
As for the connector road, Fralin said that wasn’t his decision.
“The connector road into Roanoke City was a locality mandate in order to accommodate emergency access and required connectivity of roads,” Fralin said.
When 10 News brought that back to Manna, he still had questions.
“So what does that mean? It’s a temporary road? What is it? Are they actually building it? Are they making it a throughway?” he said.
The City of Roanoke has not responded to 10 News. Whether the connector road becomes permanent remains unanswered. This story will be updated as new information becomes available.
**UPDATE**
10 News heard back from R.P. Fralin Inc. Operations Manager, Wynne Overstreet, who said paving is on the way and shed light on why the project has taken so long.
“We have paving scheduled and it is imminent after the paving company finishes a couple jobs for another company,” Overstreet said. “The engineered drawings were done in two tracks, which ended up costing us some time.”