2011.11.20
Sunday’s column: Good riddance to the ‘Rutgers Avenue Shuffle’
More than two years ago this space had a column headlined, “Meet me at the corner of gridlock and dysfunction.”
It was about one of the most (formerly) head-scratching and maddening intersections in Roanoke: Aviation Drive at Towne Square Boulevard, near the entrance to Roanoke Regional Airport.
Today, that crossroads stands as a jewel of commonsensical and appropriate traffic engineering. A new signal and a new egress from Towne Square Boulevard has made all the difference in the world.
Tomorrow, Mayor David Bowers will hold a press-conference and dedication there. Normally a press conference for a new traffic light would be a stretch, even for him.
But not in this case. This may be the most significant Roanoke street improvement in the past two decades.
Allow me to take you back to just a couple of months ago, when Towne Square Boulevard was a one-way exit off Aviation Drive.
It led to a sprawling shopping district that includes Sam’s Club, Kroger, Lowes, Michaels, Ross and whole bunch of other national and mom-and-pop retail stores and restaurants in the Towne Square-Crossroads Mall area.
There were three ways into that nightmarish mess, but only one convenient way out: Rutgers Avenue, which connects Towne Square Boulevard to Hershberger Road, and where there is a perfect-storm traffic signal.
The light was often too short for all the cars lined up on Rutgers, but also so long that it a created backups on Hershberger. (A little ways east, there was another frequent backup on the ramp from eastbound Hershberger onto southbound Valley View Boulevard).
That produced the “Rutgers Avenue Shuffle,” an interminable logjam of cars in front of Lowes.
During peak shopping times, the shuffle was a marvel of frustration that could infuriate the most saintly driver. By a minor miracle, it never set off a road-rage fracas that ended with wild pistol shots fired by some enraged idiot.
Mayor David Bowers
Improvements were a long-time coming. Discussions about the intersection’s problems began about seven years ago and dragged on and on.
The Roanoke Regional Airport Commission had a dog in this fight. That’s because many confused drivers, trying to enter the airport, wound up instead taking a wrong left turn on Thirlane Road (which is across Aviation Drive from Town Square Boulevard).
About three years ago, the commission made it plain it preferred a two-lane, five-way traffic circle/roundabout at the intersection rather than a signal.
That would have kept all the traffic moving, rather than stopping it in one direction or another. And in this case, there was plenty of unused acreage to create a circle. Nobody would have lost a home or a business to it.
But city traffic planners resisted that because Roanoke had no circles at that time (it still doesn’t, although one is coming soon to Southeast Roanoke).
Some members of Roanoke City Council favored the circle, but Bowers pretty much ended the discussion when he declared, during a work session on Feb. 17, 2009, “A four-way I could buy into. A five-way is just too confusing.”
Work on the $1.8 million project began late in March, said Mark Jamison, the city’s traffic engineer. Kroger donated some land. Sam’s Club and the airport commission chipped in some money. Most of the cost was borne by the city and the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The city turned on the signal Sept. 15. It works like a charm.
Town Square-area shoppers who wish to head east on Hershberger are no longer condemned to the Rutgers Avenue Shuffle. Some don’t quite comprehend that yet, Jamison noted.
Now they can escape the mess via Town Square Boulevard. When the light turns green at Aviation Drive, they hang a left, then take a quick exit onto Hershberger, or they stay on the road to Valley View Mall
I left a message for Bowers Friday seeking some comment; he left a message for me Saturday morning. We never did connect.
Perhaps he’s been busy working up a lot of flowery phrases for the big to-do Monday. Whatever. This actually deserves them.
Congratulations, city of Roanoke.
Hey, it took only seven years.
Now it’s time to move on to the next shuffle – Elm Ave @581.
Comment by david — November 20, 2011 @ 8:56 am
You know, I never understood (or understand) why people don’t use the towne square boulevard exit on the other end…. leading you to the tunnel and onto Peter’s Creek Road, or to Williamson Road. I guess that’s not convenient for those that live south on 581, but it’s never a traffic nightmare. That was the easiest way for me to get home, thankfully!
Comment by scott — November 20, 2011 @ 5:04 pm
I am amazed that you didn’t just use direct exit from Lowes to Hershberger avoiding Rutgers altogether, as I always do.
See: http://tinyurl.com/7f65ru6
Comment by Dave Hicks — November 20, 2011 @ 6:51 pm
Yes, the people who work on Thirlane Rd are thankful to be able to get to
Town Square after so many years but all problems were not addressed. We have people who fly out of the airport but you cannot get to the airport from Thirlane Rd. You have to go across and turn around to get into the airport. Also the backup at Thirlane onto Aviation Dr has only gotten worse.
When you have a couple hundred people leaving work at the same time the backup is not fun. People taking a right off of Thirlane Rd onto Hershberger have to fight to make the turn due to all the traffic. If you go to the end of Thirlane you only have one lane at the stop sign. You only have room for a couple of cars trying to go straight and once that if full you cannot get out to go staight or make the right hand turn at the light so traffic is backed up there. So people working on Thirlane were not helped at all. And this does not even include tractor trailers trying to get onto Hershberger. Also, if you are coming East on Hershberger trying to get to Thirlane it is a nightmare. You have to come up Hershberger and take the left hand turn to get onto Aviation Dr. and then merge with traffic to get over to the left hand lane and go to the new stop light, do a u-turn and go back down and get onto Hershberger going west and then make the turn onto Thirlane. So while the new intersection is great in some ways it has things not so great for people on Thirlane.
Comment by Jennifer Clemmer — November 20, 2011 @ 8:56 pm
Until they opened the new intersection I was going behind kroger and lowes.
Comment by Dan Casey — November 20, 2011 @ 9:20 pm
That right turn from Thirlane to Hershberger should be completely closed. I have nearly avoided about 2 dozen accidents at that spot, from people improperly merging from the Airport, and trying to get on 581. I know there’s a lot of people working back there, but it’s just not a safe turn.
Comment by scott — November 21, 2011 @ 12:04 am
Thirlane workers can easily and quickly go up to Peters Creek and get on 581 there and avoid Hershberger altogether.
Comment by tass — November 21, 2011 @ 8:48 am
I agree, great improvement…
Comment by Elena — November 21, 2011 @ 10:12 am
My only complaint with the new intersection is that there is no direct way to get on Thirlane from Aviation Drive now. If you are coming from Valley View, you have to exit out to Hershberger, then turn right on Thirlane.
Comment by Lori — November 21, 2011 @ 1:55 pm
If you work on Thirlane Rd, and live in southern Roanoke, getting to work is a major pain now. The only way to get from northbound 581 to Thirlane is to make a U-Turn at the new light, get onto Hersheberger, then take that little access turn onto Thirlane. Closing that area would leave only ONE access point onto Thirlane, an additional 3 miles out of the way for anyone coming from the south. When you make your living driving around town, and have to make frequent stops at Fedex and UPS on Thirlane, that’s not a viable option. So many people used the Aviation Dr access onto Thirlane that apparently nobody thought or cared about. A U-turn at a traffic light to access a road that was perfectly accessible before is just plain stupid.
Comment by Aelanna — January 31, 2012 @ 8:54 am