August 13, 2008
8:00 am
Losing the Shortcut at Towers
A very popular shortcut in Roanoke is a road that runs basically through a section of Towers Shopping Center.
It’s formally known as 23rd Street S.W. In fact, I believe because traffic is so heavy on the road that sometime ago oversized speed bumps were built to slow drivers down.
This road links Brandon and Colonial Avenues and prevents having to drive all the way to the corner, at the intersection where a CVS store is now located.
No Left Turn
Well, as of several days ago the traffic on this road is probably a good bit less than it has been.
As part of recent construction in the area access to this road has been restricted to help minimize its use as a shortcut, and overall improve traffic flow. Espeically to help improve traffic flow coming off of I-581/Route 220 during peak times of the day.
Automobiles traveling northeast on Colonial Avenue (after passing The Roanoker restaurant on the right) will not be allowed to make a left turn onto 23rd Street SW anymore.
And, off the record, as I was taking these pictures a police officer was on site nearby I assume to help enforce this new restriction. Just in the few minutes I was in the area 2 cars were pulled over in the parking lot of Towers Shopping Center, for what I don’t know for sure but I can probably take a guess.
Will this change have any affect on your drivng routes?
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I’m really pleased with the new traffic projects springing around Towers.
The new traffic lights on Brandon & 23rd (just in front of the new Little Ceasar’s) was needed several years ago. Making a left turn onto Brandon (heading towards the Wasena area) during rush hour could be daunting and likely to cause an accident.
Comment by Jason — August 16, 2008 @ 1:46 pm
Jason, I definitely agree. I usually drive home on Brandon from work and often wondered how anyone could make a left from 23rd before the traffic light, it looked nearly impossible during rush hour.
And this project seemed to go rather smoothly and quickly, I don’t ever remember really being inconvenienced during construction.
Comment by Steve — August 18, 2008 @ 9:02 am