Quick Feedback

Roanoke County is soliciting feedback on proposals for bicycle and pedestrian improvements on Starkey and Ogden Roads adjacent to Tanglewood Mall. The Tanglewood Mall area has a long-term plan to be redeveloped as 419 Town Center, which includes improving the bicycle and pedestrian access and experience in the surrounding area.

There’s no sugar coating that it is currently very difficult to walk or bike to Tanglewood Mall. I have biked nearly 80% of the roads in the City of Roanoke and hundreds of miles in the surrounding area, but I have not yet chosen to bike to Tanglewood Mall. The closest I have gotten is the Roanoke city side of the 220 interchange where the bike lanes give way to sharrows while you go under 220 and the end of Winding Way Road where it intersects with Ogden Road. The intersection of Winding Way Road and Ogden Road is about .2 miles and 220 is about .7 miles from the project area of this public comment opportunity.

Roanoke County is asking for comments on their proposal and they way they are accepting comments has three major components:

1. Ranking a list of potential improvements for Starkey road
2. Ranking a list of potential improvement for Ogden road
3. An open-ended comment box

Here is how I approached and answered those options. Roanoke County is accepting comments until March 15th.

Ranking a list of potential improvements for Starkey road

The section of Starkey Road in this project area is a short section that connects two higher volume roads on either side. It has a major destination in a shopping center anchored by Food Lion, with several restaurants such as Ben Gui Sushi and Bellacino’s that I think are worth the visit to this area. From what I can tell, all of the immediately adjacent development to Starkey Road is commercial development.

There are four options provided to rank and here they are listed in the order that I ranked them:

1. Sidewalk with landscaped buffer on north side of Starkey Road wherever space allows
2. Bicycle lanes along both sides of Starkey Road
3. Crosswalks at Starkey Road and Fallowater Lane
4. Sidewalk on south side of Starkey Road

I think the sidewalk on the north side of Starkey Road is the biggest proposed improvement on Starkey Road. Providing an ideally continuous sidewalk on one side of Starkey Road would transform the safety and ability of walking along this corridor. It would make walking a viable option where it currently is not.

The bicycle lanes proposed would be consistent with the existence of bicycle lanes on surrounding roads, but as basic painted bike lanes amidst a sea of auto-oriented streets they feel more like a gesture toward multimodalism than a transformative facility. To get here and use them, a bicyclist would have already had to navigate extremely challenging circumstances and will only receive a slightly better experience thanks to the painted bike lanes proposed.

The crosswalks proposed at Starkey Road and Fallowater Lane are a great addition to this corridor and really reinforce the northside sidewalk proposed. I ranked them lower than the proposed bike lanes mostly because they are such a low-cost feature that it’d be surprising if they were not provided.

The sidewalk proposed for the south side feels fairly compromised due to its limited length so I ranked it lowest.

Ranking of transportation priorities

Ranking a list of potential improvement for Ogden road

The section of Ogden Road in this project area runs between the shopping center with Food Lion and Tanglewood Mall. It is a higher volume road with a 25 mile per hour speed limit that is likely rarely followed. It gets pretty wide, with five lanes at some points including turn lanes.

There are seven options provided to rank and here they are listed in the order that I ranked them:

1. Sidewalk with landscaped buffer on west side of Ogden Road wherever space allows from Starkey Road north to the railroad bridge
2. Crosswalks with pedestrian signals at the Starkey Road and Ogden Road traffic signals
3. Bicycle lanes along both sides of Ogden Road
4. Relocate Valley Metro stop southwest of railroad bridge with concrete pad for future improvements
5. Sidewalk with landscaped buffer along west side of Ogden Road wherever space allows from Starkey Road south to existing sidewalk at Lewis Gale ER
6. Travel lane reconfiguration on Ogden Road
7. Slip land modification at Old Country Plaza

The proposed sidewalk on the west side of Ogden Road between Starkey Road and the railroad bridge would connect to an existing sidewalk built into the railroad bridge. While the existing sidewalk is relatively narrow, connecting to it is important to be able to connect to residential areas on the north side of the railroad bridge, including potentially to the City of Roanoke via Winding Way Road. To me, this proposed sidewalk section is also the major justification for the crosswalks, slip lane modification, and bus stop improvements proposed, so it is more important than those individual improvements.

The proposed crosswalks with pedestrian signals are very important for providing safer access to Tanglewood for people walking or biking on a sidewalk. It is honestly a bit hard to see how Roanoke County would implement this project and not provide these crosswalks, but they don’t exist currently and they wouldn’t connect to any sidewalks unless sidewalks are implemented as part of this project.

Like the proposed bicycle lanes on Starkey Road, the bicycle lanes proposed for Ogden Road would be consistent with the existence of bicycle lanes on surrounding roads, but as basic painted bike lanes are unlikely to significantly impact the number of people who would feel safe biking in this area. I rank them highly to voice support for bicycle improvements, but realistically these bike lanes are as likely to be used as those that currently exist along Electric Road where most people would likely choose to bike on the sidewalk.

Relocating the bus stop is a great idea because the existing bus stop is a sign stuck into grass with nothing connecting to it. Relocating the bus stop along a sidewalk would be a huge improvement and the proposed pad is looking forward to future improvements, like a shelter, that make waiting for a bus much better. Relocating the bus stop does not address creating a continuous sidewalk for people accessing it from residences north of the railroad bridge, but that is unfortunately outside of the scope of this project.

There’s a good argument that I’m under-ranking the proposed sidewalk from Starkey Road to the Lewis Gale ER. It is an important link to an existing sidewalk in the area and ties into the sidewalk along Electric Road. I rank it lower because it is a relatively short segment and it would be surprising if the county did not pursue it whereas the bicycle lanes and bus stop relocation feel easier for the county to not pursue absent positive feedback.

I rank the travel lane and slip lane modifications at the bottom because they are less about biking and walking improvements. If there was more information on the slip lane modification then I might rank it higher.

View of Bus Stop on Ogden Road

Transportation Priorities for Ogden Road

Open-ended comment box

In the open-ended comment box I clarified my support of bicycle lanes in this study area by saying that they are unlikely to significantly improve bicycling in a way that encourages more people to bike in this area. According to the Virginia Department of Transportation, about 7,400 vehicles use Ogden Road each day which according to Federal Highway Administration guidance suggests a separated bike lane or shared use path would be the recommended bicycle facility for Ogden Road. While my ranking shows support for bicycle lanes, my true preference for bicycle facilities in this study area would be converting the proposed sidewalks to shared use paths with minimum widths of at least 12 feet. 

I think it was a major oversight that Roanoke County chose painted bike lanes for Electric Road instead of a shared use path along its north side. The painted bike lanes on Electric Road are intimidating to ride on and do not meet modern guidance. Continuing to use painted bike lanes in order to be consistent with those past choices only continues the error.

We are unfortunately kind of stuck with bad bicycle facilities to get to and around Tanglewood Mall. Modern guidance would recommend separated bike lanes or shared use paths along Franklin in the city of Roanoke and to Tanglewood as it becomes Electric Road, but the county likely relies on outdated AASHTO standards that are over a decade old. Unfortunately, painted bike lanes are the current facility within the city and along Tanglewood Mall. Painted bike lanes are also incorporated in future designs for a diverging diamond interchange between 220 and Electric Road. This is a failure of vision to create true bicycle connections that serve people of all ages and abilities and the sooner we can start addressing it the better.

VDOT Traffic Volumes

FHWA Bikeway Selection Guidance

This is a review of the RockStar Gravel Route, which I rode with two other people in late October. We took four days and camped three nights while covering a total of 267.25 miles and 26,503 feet of climbing during the entire trip. The Rockstar gravel route itself is somewhat shorter, but our trip included getting lost and a few side trips.

The RockStar Gravel Route is one of three RockStar routes that go between Harrisonburg and Roanoke, VA. The nicknames of each city, Rocktown and the Star City, respectively, give the routes their name. Rob Issem, currently the city of Roanoke’s Complete Streets and Vision Zero Coordinator, helped create each route and they aim to provide an epic experience showcasing great places to ride and see.

I’m going to try to keep this review high–level and may supplement with some more in-depth discussions of the route and the gear that I used. Overall, the RockStar Gravel Route was very difficult, but a fun and unique challenge worth doing. 

If you are a confident cyclist who has recently successfully completed a longer day ride of 100 miles or more then you should be able to do the RockStar Gravel Route without much additional training. If any day of the RockStar Gravel Route would be your longest-ever ride, or you are not comfortable on a variety of gravel and off-road trails, or you have not camped much then I highly encourage training for distance, confidence, and camping comfortably. I was probably a little undertrained, having done a 100 mile bike ride in April before training for a 10 mile run in August and then mostly not training consistently outside of gravel rides between 30-50 miles on probably 60% of the weekends between August and the trip in late October.

Carvin’s Cove

Lunch break after Covington

Miles of forest road double track

Top of Reddish Knob

Pulling into Braley Pond

Braley Pond in the morning

The RockStar Gravel Route 

Good: Varied. Surprising. Beautiful and adventurous. Progressive in the sense of getting easier (relatively) each day. Camping was easy and it was cool to meet friends at Douthat.

Bad: Big difficulty spike on the first day. Section below Flagpole Knob was just not rideable for me. Limited water at times.

Ugly: Virginia DOT needs to invest in better shoulders on several paved sections. Drivers need to chill out and wait to pass.

Day One: The hardest day. Water was a problem. Reddish Knob and gravel just before camp were highlights. Mountain View General Store and Braley Pond are both excellent.

• Strava: Before and After Lunch, to the General Store
• Videos: Start and Top of Reddish Knob

Day Two: Lots of forest service road double track. Some single track. All kinds of gravel. Long day with repetitive gravel climbs. Got lost, which sucked. Camping at Douthat was really nice.

• Strava: Getting Lost to Douthat
• Videos: Crushing Gravel on Cowpath Road and Lost near Douthat 

Day Three: More road riding. Riding through towns, climbing, and descents. Some river crossings and more gravel. Worst camping.

• Strava: Varied day with road descents
• Videos: High Valley near Covington and Grove Hill Road Descent

Day Four: More road riding. More urban. Carvins Cove has a big forest road climb and the Rockstar route shows off and meanders around Roanoke. Texas Tavern is unique, for me it was a crowded early dinner crowd and pleasant conversation for a short celebratory chili dog and coke.

• Strava: Carvins Cove and Home
• Video: Carvin’s Cove

Gear

• Bikepacking bags: My Portland Design Works Gear Belly front roll was rock solid. My Outer Shell frame bag was great but I prefer the zipper on my old Revelate frame bag. My Revelate Spinelock 16L seat bag was stable and I liked the pin system. My Revelate and Po Campo handlebar feed bags were very useful and disappeared while riding. My XLab Stealth Pocket 200 XP is great for easy access.
• Gravel bike: My Lauf Anywhere was the only rigid gravel bike on the trip and held up very well. Lots of mounts that I could have more fully utilized. Stable on descents and comfortable with the bikepacking load.
• Tires: Using WTB Raddlers in 700×38 front and rear I was the only rider to not get a flat. Tires were good on and off road, even on some single track.
• GPS: Basic Garmin 520 had the battery life to go all day. Recharged every night. I should have taken the time to create daily gps files.
• Tent and sleep system: North Face one person tent, REI inflatable sleeping pad, Cocoon drymax sheet, Western Mountaineering sleeping bag, Nemo inflatable pillow. Tent was bulky and basic, everything else was great.
• Camp food: Jetboil worked very well. Trailtopia Chili Mac was great and Curry Ramen was okay. Trailtopia oatmeal was really good.
• Clothes: Did two days in road kit and two days in mountain bike kit, both worked well. Adidas Velosamba shoes worked well for hike-a–bike, but got numb on long days. Change of sleep clothes and socks were a great luxury.

I think that’s everything to review. If you are ready for a challenge, then the Rockstar gravel route may be right for you. It is an adventure, with clearly intentional routing to embrace rockstar features such as Reddish Knob, Roaring Run Furnace, and the Roanoke Star.

The City of Roanoke was awarded a $480,000 Safe Streets and Roads for All grant from the United States Department of Transportation. With a 20% match, the city will have $600,000 to create an Action Plan to dramatically reduce traffic deaths in the city. The counties of Roanoke and Botetourt also received a grant.

The Safe Streets for All Grant is an incredible opportunity for the city to create a plan that will address the dangers faced by people biking, walking, driving, and taking transit. Included in the grant are dedicated dollars for collaboration with Virginia Tech, community engagement, and data-driven examinations of why people are killed and seriously injured on Roanoke’s streets.

Released with the USDOT’s announcement was a cool data tool, and this blog post digs into what that data tool says about Roanoke. 

One way that USDOT presents data is by showing communities that have experienced zero fatal crashes. In the Roanoke region, several communities report zero traffic fatalities in recent years including Blacksburg and Vinton (4 years) and Salem (2 years). The city of Roanoke has zero years with zero traffic deaths according to USDOT.

Map of communities with years with zero traffic deaths

Another way that USDOT presents data is by showing traffic deaths in historically disadvantaged communities. In the Roanoke region, there are two historically disadvantaged communities in the city of Roanoke and Franklin county is also a historically disadvantaged community.

Map of Historically Disadvantaged Communities

Zooming into historically disadvantaged communities in the city of Roanoke, we see that there is a tract that covers parts of the Old Southwest neighborhood and a tract that covers parts of NE Roanoke centered around Williamson Road. The tract in NE Roanoke has far more traffic fatalities than Old Southwest, and many more are people walking.

Traffic Fatalities in Historically Disadvantaged Neighborhoods in Roanoke

In NE Roanoke there are two obvious concentrations of fatalities:

Williamson Road

• • At least 5 people were killed on Williamson between 2016 and 2020
  • Williamson Road has a planning history and has been a source of competing letters to the editor and neighborhood groups
    • Project Pipeline 2022: https://vaprojectpipeline.org/studies/salem/sa01-route-11—williamson-road.asp
  • Major safety improvements would be from sidewalks, lighting, speed management, turn lane, and shorter crossing distances

Orange Ave

• • At least 2 people were killed on Orange Ave between 2016 and 2020
  • There’s a planning history
    • https://www.virginiadot.org/projects/salem/route_460_operational_improvement_study.asp
    • Page 9 of the Project Pipeline final report: https://vaprojectpipeline.org/documents/salem/sa01-%E2%80%93-project-pipeline-final-report-%E2%80%93-roanoke-%E2%80%93-route-11.pdf
  • Focus has been on operations (traffic flow), not safety. Pedestrian environment is challenging. Biking is discouraged. Significant potential foot traffic from Berglund Center, but no safe and easy crossings. Traffic is high speed and high volume. Crossing distances are long. Slip lanes are at intersections and merges from the highway.

The City of Roanoke’s Safe Street and Roads for All grant includes many activities, including:

• Engagement
• Speed Management
• Demonstration Projects
• Video Analytics and modeling

I think the USDOT tool does a good job of providing information useful to guide the implementation of Roanoke’s grant. It identified areas where the city already has ongoing plans. The grant can guide these plans into projects that create safer streets and listen to community traffic safety concerns to design for community needs.

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.

Transit Equity Day is a day to promote public transit as a civil right and a strategy to combat climate change. It is held each year on February 4th to celebrate Rosa Parks’ birthday and her choice to pursue civil rights through the tactic of refusing to give up her seat on the bus. This past weekend was the first year that Transit Equity Day was celebrated in Roanoke thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Bus Riders of Roanoke Advocacy Group (BRRAG), RIDE Solutions, and Valley Metro. It also celebrated BRRAG’s one-year anniversary as an organization. It was also the first time that I rode the bus in Roanoke.

This post is to talk a bit about transit in Roanoke and my one-day experience riding the bus. When I was growing up in Seattle and living in DC, it was pretty common for me to ride transit because distances were too far or weather too rainy for biking. Sometimes I would take transit to a place and ride back, or ride to a place and take transit back. In my experience, transit and biking go very well together – and there’s no reason that shouldn’t be the case in Roanoke.

This doesn’t really do the event justice. It grew to 30-40 people and this was essentially them setting up.

The Transit Equity Day event was great. It had several speakers, including Bernadette “BJ” Lark, Dr. Laura Hartman, Vice Mayor Joe Cobb, and Valley Metro General Manager Kevin Price. Speeches focused on the value of transit to the community today and throughout history. Several speakers talked about transit – and transportation – as a civil right that allows full participation in our community to people who lack vehicles, are unable to operate vehicles, or otherwise would be excluded due to mobility issues. 

A highlight was learning about Margie Jumper who refused to give up her seat in a segregated trolley in Roanoke in 1946. While her protest did not immediately prompt action, she was a dedicated civil rights activist in Roanoke for decades. Roanoke’s transit system was not desegregated until 1963 – 17 years later. For several years the Commonwealth Coach and Trolley Museum had a bus in service at the time of desegregation with a dedicated seat to honor her. Unfortunately, that bus was burned in a fire that devastated the museum in 2017.

After the speaker part of the event wrapped up most people headed inside the new 3rd Street Transit Center downtown. It’s a nice building, but still under construction. I quickly learned that no bike parking currently exists at the station, so hopefully that will come as it is completed. Bikes are also not allowed inside, so I ended up standing outside talking to people until the buses showed up. All Valley Metro buses arrive and depart at roughly the same time, once every hour or half hour, depending upon route and time of day. On Transit Equity Day fares were free, so I figured I would ride the bus and bike back home.

The bike rack is sturdy and secure. I didn’t notice any bouncing or wobbling of my bike.

The bike rack pulls down with one handle and secures the bike with one arm.

I loaded my bike on the front of the #11 bus, which goes from downtown through northwest Roanoke to Valley View Mall. The bike rack on the front of the bus was very easy to use. It was a Sportworks rack, probably their DL2 model. Sportworks was founded near where I grew up in Redmond, Washington and is recognized as a Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Business by the League Of American Bicyclists. To use the rack, I simply grabbed a handle at the top, squeezed to release the rack down, placed my bike in the rack much like I would on my car’s hitch rack, and secured the front wheel with a sturdy and grippy support arm. Valley Metro has some advice for using the rack on their website too.

The #11 bus was packed for my ride. According to Valley Metro data, the #11 bus was the sixth most popular route in 2017. People were standing in the aisle as all rows and most seats were taken. It seemed like the area around Hershberger and Cove Road and the area around Valley View Mall, especially Walmart, were the most popular places for people to get on and off. 

The bus seemed newly refurbished inside. There were two digital displays that showed upcoming stops and one dot matrix display that had a more traditional scroll of bus route information. A highlight for me was the four camera feeds on another display that allowed me to easily watch my bike from my seat towards the back of the bus. This was a great comfort as I could watch to see if my bike became loose (it didn’t) or if anyone approached my bike (no one did). As a person who is very protective of my bike(s), it was great for my peace of mind to have such a great view from anywhere in the bus.

I got off at Walmart and then biked back home along Williamson to get a better sense of the road that I have written about several times. No surprise, it was uncomfortable to bike on. I also noticed several people waiting at transit stops along the way in places that almost uniformly lacked places to sit, shade, or any covering from the elements. According to the Virginia Department of Transportation, no bus stops on Williamson are fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

My experience with Transit Equity Day in Roanoke showed me that there is a strong community of transit riders advocating for improvements. Valley Metro has a plan to make improvements and in BRRAG there is now a strong voice for riders to inform those improvements and advocate for them. The bus system in Roanoke has pretty obvious limitations due to its infrequency, its reliance on a central transfer point, inconsistent biking and walking infrastructure throughout the city, a lack of bike racks at transit centers and stops, and a lack of facilities at stops. But, there’s some energy to change that and I hope to see it change.

The Roanoke River Greenway runs about 8 miles from Vic Thomas Park to Fallon Park. Along the way it passes six full-service grocery stores with fresh fruit and vegetables. The trip to the grocery store is a great trip for biking. From the greenway, each store is less than a mile away with the furthest away store being the Grandin Co+op.

This post looks at how people get from the Roanoke River Greenway to those Groceries. There are many people who only ride on greenways recreationally. A trip to the grocery store is a great way to get those people to try riding for utility. Whether buying a treat or a meal’s worth, a trip to the grocery store helps a rider understand how to carry things well, how to park, and off-greenway routing.

Map of Roanoke River Greenway with nearby grocery stores

Here are the six grocery stores along the Roanoke River Greenway from left to right:

1. Grandin Co-op: .6 miles away
2. Towers Kroger: .4 miles away
3. Fresh Market: .4 miles away
4. Earthfare: .4 miles away
5. Food Lion: .3 miles away
6. Walmart Neighborhood Market @ Fallon Park: .4 miles away

Ease of Biking

Transition between Roanoke River Greenway and Memorial Drive in Grandin

Overly large roundabout with slip lane and small median island near Food Lion

Wide part of Franklin Ave with “suicide” bike lane

Complicated intersection at Brandon Ave and Main Street in Wasena

Hill up Brandon Ave towards Towers Shopping Center

Crosswalk between Fallon Park and Walmart

Below are the six grocery stores along the Roanoke River Greenway based on how easy and safe they are to ride to, in my opinion (I live in Wasena, so my experience of these trips is from Vic Thomas Park). The image gallery above shows what I consider the worst parts of each ride:

1. Grandin Co-op: It has bike lanes most of the way, but there are issues. The intersection on the east side of the Memorial bridge is awkward and high speed. It is hard to transition from the greenway to the west-bound bike lane that leads to the Grandin Co-op. The bike lane disappears approaching Grandin Road and a rider must merge into a left turn lane and turn left in a shared lane to reach the grocery store.
2. Food Lion: It’s the shortest and if you use sidewalks it’s pretty easy, but the new-ish roundabout with pedestrian crossings was poorly designed for this connection and is out of the way. Taking the shorter route puts you on the widest part of a narrow road that sometimes has speeding issues. The roundabout has a slip lane that widens the road to two lanes for a short section near where a person riding would turn left to go to the grocery store.
3. Earthfare: If it wasn’t for that stupid suicide lane this would be number one. By suicide lane I mean the bike lane striped between a through lane and a long right turn lane on Franklin Road. That intersection and its approaches are a mess. Would be much improved by establishing a connection from the greenway west of Franklin through the old Ramada parking lot. But this is a pretty straight shot with a bike lane and often limited traffic.
4. Towers Kroger: There are bike lanes on Main Street, Franklin Ave, and Brandon Ave, meaning bike lanes are only missing at intersections. Towers can be approached from Wasena Park or River’s Edge Park. For the purposes of ranking, this entry is for the approach from Wasena Park. The intersection at Brandon Ave is a doozy, but surprisingly easy to navigate once you’ve done it a time or two. Heading east is a high speed protected left turn while heading west is an awkward climb in a right turn lane that seemingly always has a green light. The presence of a bike lane to the left of the right turn lane may lead some people to believe that you should be in the bike lane until the right turn, but that sets up a potential conflict point with cars already in the right turn lane. Overhanging trees obscure the light for the right turn lane and the short two lane section approaching Main Street invites cars to try to overtake you and then cut you off, but most cars will stay behind you if you take the right turn lane.
5. Fresh Market: The approach to Towers from Franklin Ave is worse, in my opinion, than the approach from Wasena/Main Street. Approaching from River’s Edge/Franklin Ave there’s a big left turn across four lanes of traffic that leads into a wide road and a long right turn lane. It’s a short section, but it feels really dangerous and exposes you to multiple vehicle threats. The climb to Towers, or return to the greenway from Towers, is on a section of Brandon Ave where the road diet was not continued after the intersection with Colonial, meaning that bike lanes are unmarked and narrow, and there are at minimum four lanes of traffic to navigate. To return to the greenway, there’s a dual left turn lane which creates uncertainty and the potential for conflict.
6. Walmart Neighborhood Market @ Fallon Park: It’s a sidewalk special, but not a bad one. There are no bike facilities, but if you navigate using the sidewalks then it is a pretty straightforward ride. My preference is to ride the sidewalk along the northside of Dale Ave to Vernon St and cross at the light, then it’s just a short section to the parking lot entrance. Going to this grocery store from the greenway doesn’t make a lot of sense for many people due to where the greenway connects to neighborhoods, the Tinker Creek Trail extension may make this more accessible.

Bike Parking

Bike Parking at Grandin Co+op

Bike Parking at Fallon Walmart

Bike Parking at Earthfare

Bike Parking on Kroger side of Towers

Bike Parking at Fresh Market side of Towers

Cart Return at SE Food Lion

Below are the six grocery stores along the Roanoke River Greenway based on the quality and location of their bike parking. The gallery above shows an example of bike parking at each location:

1. Grandin Co-op: Classic staple racks right out front on a large sidewalk with a curb. Some cover provided by trees.
2. Walmart Neighborhood Market @ Fallon Park: Large and well spaced staple racks in front of the store. A little bit far from the entrance, but very good overall.
3. Earthfare: A wave rack right out front on a large curbless sidewalk at parking lot level
4. Towers Kroger: There are two small staple racks located too close to pillars on the Kroger side of Towers. Multiple cart returns and some hand railings provide alternative spots.
5. Fresh Market: There is one small staple rack located so that you must walk through the mall to reach Fresh Market from it. Fewer cart returns and alternative spots.
6. Food Lion: No bike parking, so cart return is the best place to park your bike.

Bonus stores

Downtown Co-op

• Just outside of one mile from downtown
• Some of the best bike parking
• Streets are slow, but there’s no bike infrastructure downtown, greenways kind of disappear, one-way grid is not welcoming from the west

LEAP (Tuesday pop-up market)

• Short and simple ride from greenway to West End Center
• Bike lanes the whole way (kinda), alleyway is nice
• Grab and go makes parking easy (just lean your bike on the wall)

Brambleton Krogers (Gucci @ 4404 and Other @ 3971)

• Gucci is far away and doesn’t offer enough of a reason to go there for the distance
• The closer Kroger isn’t too bad and can be paired with trips to Ace Hardware, no awful intersections since you don’t go past Electric Road

Valley View

• Further away, but the Lick Run Greenway is nice
• Useful for Best Buy and sometimes other stores
• Viable for people who live along the Lick Run Greenway north of Orange Ave

Vinton Kroger

• Hardy Road is awful
• Approaching from 3rd Street/Wyndham Drive is kind of scenic but out of the way and not great
• The bike rack is like a mix between a wave and a staple rack and too close to a column to be used correctly by more than two bikes

The Bane of Bradshaw

Narrow Fast Dicey Edge Road

Route 311

When you come to Roanoke and want a great road cycling ride, the Bradshaw Road route is one of the first to come to mind. Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge says, “The Bradshaw Road route is one of the most popular rides for local biking enthusiasts in Virginia’s Blue Ridge.” 

It is 47 miles of rolling hills, gentle climbs, and fast descents. If you’re riding with a group there’s a nice climb to a red mailbox that is also perfect for a sprint. I’d recommend it to anyone coming to Roanoke who wants a great road ride. Except, they have to be okay with a dangerous and scary stretch on Route 311.

On Route 311 there is a roughly 2 mile stretch that is fast and narrow in the worst ways. It is a 55 MPH road. It has areas that might be shoulders that are less than 4 feet wide. There are drop offs and pinch points that place people biking directly in the way of semi trucks, large pickups, and other traffic with that traffic expecting to move at 55 MPH. A 2001 Roanoke Times article, updated in 2019, about the Bradshaw route described this section of 311 as “a dicey road” and said “that anybody, no matter how experienced on a bike, is a fool to try to ride on U.S. 311 at any time other than early on a weekend morning.”

If you are comfortable taking the lane and slowing down traffic or riding in a group that can slow traffic, and ride at an appropriate time, then the Bradshaw route is a great ride and I heartily recommend it. If you are not comfortable mixing with 55 MPH traffic then I can’t recommend it.

311 is a fast road. Cyclists can go 20 mph consistently and groups may go even faster.  But even at 30 mph there is still a 25 mph speed differential, creating tension with people who want to go faster.

The 2 mile stretch of 311 between the Hanging Rock Battlefield and Bradshaw Road is the bane of the Bradshaw cycling route. It is the place where a cyclist feels closest to death. You may not be hit, or passed closely, or lose control off the side of the road, but you are almost guaranteed to be exposed to 55 MPH traffic for some period of time. It is remarkably fortunate that no cyclist has been killed on this section of 311 (at least in VDOT data since 2014), although one person was killed in a vehicle at the turn for Bradshaw Road. For some people, the experience of this section means they will not be able to experience the Bradshaw route, or they might be scared off from cycling by the experience.

Fixing the bane of Bradshaw would be a great boon for the cycling community in Roanoke. It is an awful experience in the midst of a great one. More people new to biking might give Bradshaw a try and like it. More people might feel comfortable biking Bradshaw more often. It is a very approachable longer ride, and fixing this stretch is the key to making it even more approachable.

So, what are some solutions? How can we make the Bradshaw route an approachable ride for more people? 

Here are a few ideas:

Lower the speed limit

• I feel like 40 mph is appropriate for this road. Likely to have minimal travel time impacts. Tourist traffic to McAffee’s Knob isn’t too time sensitive. Swap out signs. Add feedback signs. Maybe do enforcement. People will probably adjust. I bet the speed limit wasn’t initially based on a traffic study.

Add shoulders and rumble strips

• This is the most obvious solution. The difficulty is the solution’s expense. It may require acquiring right of way, but there’s also a lot of potential for driveway and drainage improvements for adjacent homeowners. Rumble strips would need an appropriate skip pattern so that bicyclists are not trapped by them. Rumble stripes, where the rumble pattern is made on the striped edge line, might be good due to limited space. Not sure of the actual expense.

Provide a waiting area for left turns

• At the turn to Bradshaw Road it would be nice to have a small waiting area on the right side of 311. This would allow cyclists to pull over and wait for traffic to clear before turning onto Bradshaw instead of holding up traffic waiting for a gap. This might improve safety as it would allow cyclists to move out of traffic and have more time to find a gap they are comfortable with.

Trail?

• The 2018 Greenway Plan has a project called the Mason’s Cove Greenway. It’s described on page 56: “4.2.30. Masons Cove Greenway, Map #30, Category 4 The Masons Cove Greenway would connect Mason Creek Greenway to Catawba Greenway utilizing an old railroad bed. Bicyclists could use this route to get up the mountain and connect to Rt. 311 to reach U. S. Bicycle Route 76.” The plan makes it appear to be a theoretical possibility, but there is little information on status other than that the railroad bed exists. Could be worth exploring, but this is likely more expensive than improved shoulders.

Road reconnection?

• No, there’s a short unconnected road that connects to the Hanging Rock Battlefield, but it’s too short to do much to improve this stretch of road. It could be a cool connection for Just the Right Gear to provide access to the Hinkey Trail, but that would still require a significant reworking of the shoulders and striping along a shorter section of 311.

Restriping?

• No, pretty confident that the road is actually narrow in places and does not have sufficient width to provide at least 5 foot shoulders through restriping.

Rumble strips only?

• No, rumble strips only would make what little shoulder exists unrideable. Cyclists would be forced into the travel lane and this stretch of 311 would be even more of a barrier for people not comfortable slowing down traffic or being passed by 55 MPH traffic.