Work began this week on a new Pulaski County tourism initiative that focuses on sprucing up two major thoroughfares.

According to a news release Friday from Pulaski County Administrator Pete Huber, the improvements focus on the medians along Virginia 100 and 11 and are 10 years in the making.

Huber said the planting of shrubs and ornamental plantings from the Interstate 81 interchange to New River Community College will be a significant change from this summer's weeds and high grass.

He said Virginia 100 serves as the heart of the growing tourism industry in Pulaski County, while Virginia 11 near Memorial Bridge serves as the gateway to Fairlawn and Pulaski County.

"Improvements to portions of the Route 11 median in Fairlawn are also part of a larger effort to beautify and rediscover the Fairlawn community," a letter from Huber states.

Huber said the beautification work is an effort to encourage tourism during a time of national economic turmoil.

The project was initially approved by the board of supervisors in 1999 and $100,000 was allocated as a local match for the $200,000 project, Huber said.

The original project envisioned the installation of streetlights and trees in the same manner as can be found to the entrances to Radford and Salem.

However, the trees were removed by the Virginia Department of Transportation out of safety concerns and the streetlights were removed out of concern for light pollution affecting the telescope at the nearby D.C. Wysor Observatory.

While the project has changed from its initial form, Huber said the current economic downturn has resulted in lower-than-normal bid prices and an ideal time for supporting local jobs through the implementation of construction projects.

In its reduced form, the project will cost $84,815, with $42,408 in local funding matched by $42,408 in a revenue sharing grant from the VDOT. The plantings will be maintained using inmate labor in order to minimize future maintenance costs.

-- The Roanoke Times