Matt |Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Some Blacksburg residents who lived in apartment buildings at the intersection of Prices Fork Road and North Main Street were paid to move out of the buildings because they are set for demolition for the planned road contruction.

A bicyclist crosses North Main Street in a crosswalk in front of PK's restaurant in Blacksburg. Construction plans for a half-mile stretch of North Main Street from College Avenue to Kabrich Street will reduce the existing roadway from two lanes in each direction to one lane with a shared center lane for left turns.

Plans call for a roundabout at North Main Street and Prices Fork Road in Blacksburg. Construction of the roundabout is anticipated in May 2011, says project manager Brandon Steele.

BLACKSBURG -- Increasing pedestrian safety and drawing more people downtown are some of the goals of a two-year construction project set to begin this summer in Blacksburg.

But the North Main Street improvement project hasn't been without some headaches for business owners who worry that the construction work might deter customers and some apartment dwellers who had to clear out of buildings set for demolition.

The town project is anticipated to start in mid-June and could be finished in under two years if winter weather doesn't hinder the work, said Brandon Steele, the project manager and the town's urban transportation manager.

The work involves a half-mile stretch of North Main Street from College Avenue to Kabrich Street and will reduce the existing roadway from two lanes in each direction to one lane with a shared center lane for left turns.

Also, work will involve replacing the current intersection at North Main Street and Prices Fork Road with a roundabout and adding pedestrian-actuated signals -- signals that pedestrians can push to allow them to cross -- and decorative street lighting similar to what is found now in downtown Blacksburg.

Construction of the roundabout is anticipated in May 2011, Steele said.

"It's really a pedestrian improvement project more than anything," said Town Manager Marc Verniel, who said it will effectively extend downtown from College Avenue to Prices Fork Road.

For years, Blacksburg officials have discussed plans to rework the portion of North Main from College Avenue to Kabrich Street to improve traffic flow and reduce the number of wrecks along that corridor.

The project was initiated in 2003 and is also seen as a way to help in the town's downtown revitalization efforts, officials have said.

The total project cost is $11 million, which includes design work, right of way acquisition and construction. The money comes from federal, state and local dollars.

Apartments to be demolished for project

The project involves the demolition of four existing buildings at the corner of North Main and Prices Fork. Two buildings at 709 and 711 N. Main St. had apartments and the other two are empty buildings, Steele said.

Steele said the town has followed the Uniform Act, a federal law that establishes minimum standards for federally funded programs and projects that require the acquisition of real estate or that displace persons from their homes, businesses or farms.

The law ensures that relocation assistance is provided to displaced persons, according to information from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Steele said there were seven occupied apartments that were affected and all the tenants have moved.

"The tenants that were living there that had to be relocated got rental assistance and moving expenses" for the relocation, he said, which came out of the project's total budget.

The amount of money paid to the tenants varied depending on that person's lease, rental amounts and where he or she moved to, and typical utility rates also were factored into the relocation package.

Steele said the town hired consultants Greenhorne & O'Mara to work with tenants on the relocation and to make sure the town adhered to the law. The cost of the consultants was included in the total project cost, he said.

Tenants relocated, businesses affected

Davis Bailey was one of the tenants who had to relocate and said he had some concerns about the process.

The Virginia Tech graduate student lived in an apartment on North Main for a year and a half. He received information about the relocation in August of last year and moved in November.

Bailey received $10,500 for relocation assistance. He said he was able to find a new place but the rent is higher than his old apartment. Bailey used to pay $490 a month for rent and now pays $720. He also will be getting a roommate.

Bailey said he felt inconvenienced by the situation and believes the town could have better communicated the project to tenants.

As for his new place, he said he's "very happy but obviously living in a slightly more expensive home, I definitely feel financially strapped as a result of this whole ordeal."

Steele said town staff and the consultants worked with the tenants and talked with them many times throughout the process.

"Moving anybody is never simple but in this case it worked efficiently and we're ready for the project," he said. "We got them out, everybody got housing and they got their check. In my mind, it was very successful."

As the town has moved forward with the project plans, some nearby business owners also have expressed concern about the road construction.

Charles Woerner, co-owner of Heavener Hardware at 801 Kabrich St., said it's "impossible to say" if the project will affect business, but he is concerned about whether customers will look for other access to the business or bypass going there entirely because of the road work.

That said, "assuming we make it through the construction phase, when it's finished then that will open up visibility to our business considerably," he said.

"But we've got to make it through the construction first."