I wrote a letter to the editor that was published by the Roanoke Times on February 23, 2023. You can find the published letter here: https://roanoke.com/opinion/letters/letter-williamson-road-safety-opponents-struggle-with-facts/article_2a5421e6-b232-11ed-8d41-7fec6305fd48.html

This letter began by reviewing the letter to the editor referenced in my letter. I annotated their points and arguments and then wrote my letter based on the citations to facts that seemed most compelling at correcting points made by the safety project opponents. There’s a lot more potential context to provide, but I think this letter stands on its own and I’ll wait for the opponents to either continue to use bad facts or double-down on the few facts not explicitly addressed in this letter before responding further.

Here is the letter as I submitted it:

In their recent letter, “City should start over on Williamson Road plans,” Mr. Tanger and Mr. McClintock make many claims, but struggle to accurately provide or describe facts. 

The proposed plans for Williamson Road will improve safety. They fundamentally reduce the possibility for conflicts using a proven design that provides safety benefits. With yet another person walking killed on Williamson on February 17th, the facts continue to show a need for the safety improvements proposed.

Williamson Road safety improvements were developed by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Project Pipeline process. Both a District Lead and Lead Consultant are named on the project page, in contrast to the insinuations about unnamed engineers and analysts in the letter. Facts can be found at: https://vaprojectpipeline.org/studies/salem/sa01-route-11—williamson-road.asp.

According to the Project Pipeline final report, there were 389 crashes on Williamson Road between 2015 and 2019. Of those 389 crashes, 75 were at the Orange Avenue intersection, less than 20%, not the 72% claimed by Messrs. Tanger and McClintock. The data is on page 24 of the report. Proposed changes at Orange Avenue are included on page 9, not excluded as they claim.

Road diets are a widely used and successful safety strategy. Far from being rejected or reversed in any significant number, at least 30 localities in Virginia pursued them in the last decade. A 2019 study by VDOT, available at https://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/20-r19.pdf, found that “39 miles of Virginia road diets across 66 projects…did not generally create traffic congestion problems” and over 70% met their primary goals. Of 25 projects with public feedback, none received majority negative feedback. 

The Safe Streets and Roads for All grant recently awarded to Roanoke will include community outreach, likely focusing in the area of Williamson Road, whose poor safety record was highlighted by the USDOT on its website discussing “our nation’s roadway safety crisis.”

The community deserves a factual discussion, not the misinformation provided by Messrs. Tanger and McClintock. The facts say Williamson Road is unsafe and the proposed changes will make it safer.