CHRISTIANSBURG -- The first phase of a project to widen a section of busy Virginia 114 to five lanes could be under way by spring 2009, but the town would need to come up with at least $14 million to get the second phase going, town officials learned at a meeting Monday morning.

Del. Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg, called the meeting with Virginia Department of Transportation officials to get what one town council member called a "reality check" on the VDOT project, in the works for nearly two decades.

The plan calls for a stretch of Virginia 114 -- or Peppers Ferry Road -- to be widened to include two lanes in each direction, as well as the addition of a center turn lane.

Phase I includes the stretch of Virginia 114 from the town's west corporate limit at Dominion Drive to Schewel's Furniture Company; phase II includes the stretch from Schewel's to the intersection with North Franklin Street/U.S. 460, near the New River Valley Mall.

The design work for the project has been completed at a cost of nearly $3 million, and rights-of-way, including five homes, purchased for $3.4 million, VDOT engineer Mike Russell said.

What began as one project was split into two in 2004 because of rising construction costs and a decrease in funding, Russell said.

For Phase I, the $6.5 million construction funding has been allocated. It will be advertised for contractors in late 2008, with construction scheduled to begin in the spring of 2009, Russell said.

The question is what will happen with Phase II, which, in today's dollars, would cost about $14.3 million, Russell said. None of that has been allocated.

With inflation, construction could cost $15 million by 2012 or $17.5 million in 2018, he said.

The project must be paid for within a year of its completion.

Christiansburg receives about $1 million annually from VDOT for urban road construction, Town Manager Lance Terpenny said.

"Inflation is eating up the majority of their allocation," Russell said. "We're chasing a moving target."

"We got a good reality check today," Councilman Brad Stipes said after the meeting. The next step, he said, is to figure out "what, if anything, can we do to accelerate Phase II?"

Russell and other VDOT officials talked with Nutter and town leaders about ways of funding the project.

One possibility is to ask the General Assembly to reinstate a program that allowed the Toms Creek Road interchange in Blacksburg to be completed ahead of schedule.

The Local Partnership Fund was created by the General Assembly in 2005 and offered $40 million in state funds to localities that agreed to manage their road construction projects.

Blacksburg applied for and received $7.5 million in state money for the project.

"That ended up working very well for Blacksburg," said Mike Estes, director of VDOT's local assistance fund.

The project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget, and the federal funds that were to be used for the project were then able to go toward other Blacksburg road projects, he said.

The high volume of traffic on Virginia 114 will likely be a topic of discussion tonight, when a public hearing is scheduled before the planning commission and town council at council's regular 7:30 p.m. meeting.

The owner of about 20 acres of land off Stafford Drive, which is just off Virginia 114 near the mall, has asked that the land be zoned residential so houses can be built there, Terpenny said. The land is currently zoned for agricultural use.

Councilman Ernie Wade said council members wanted to get a status report on the Virginia 114 project before tonight's meeting.

At a meeting in late November, council members voted to deny a request to allow dozens of new houses in the New River Village subdivision.

"People come to council and oppose rezoning because they don't want any more traffic on 114," Terpenny said.

"We have had this project ready for several years and then something happens and it gets unready," Mayor Richard Ballengee said.

"It's the town's highest priority," Terpenny said, "and it has been for many years."