Commuters leaving Roanoke County to get to Daleville and Interstate 81 in Troutville should soon face less traffic congestion, thanks to a state highway department road project that starts Monday.

The Virginia Department of Transportation hopes to alleviate traffic backing up on U.S. 11 North by adding a second left-turn lane onto U.S. 220 North.

State highway and local government officials acknowledge that the project is only an incremental upgrade to one of the most congested intersections in the Roanoke Valley. Next to where U.S. 220 and U.S. 11 intersect is the I-81 interchange at Exits 150A and 150B. The combined traffic patterns create bumper-to-bumper traffic for residents, travelers and truck drivers using the exits to access two truck stops on U.S. 11.

The cost of the $127,000 turn-lane project that starts Monday is just a fraction of the $3.4 million that had been allocated for an overhaul last year. Those funds have since been put on hold.

Currently, the northbound section of U.S. 11 has one left-turn lane, which often backs up into the through lane as commuters leave Roanoke in the afternoon.

"Now what will happen out there is there will be a left-turn lane, a lane that you can either go straight or turn left in, and then a through lane or right-turn lane," said Heidi Coy, a VDOT spokeswoman.

As part of the project, a 20-foot section of concrete median on U.S. 220 North will be removed. A signal pole on an island between the right-turn lanes and through lanes on U.S. 11 South will be moved to the right shoulder of the road.

Work on the signal pole will be done during the day, and work to remove the median will be done at night. Work is expected to be complete by mid-September.

An updated proposal to address all of the problems at the intersection is expected soon.

"We're working with a consultant to come up with possibilities that we can take to the public either late this year or early next year," Coy said.

It's unclear when such a plan would be implemented because of recent budget cuts affecting the highway department.

In the meantime, the turn-lane project is among recent incremental upgrades to the intersection over the years. Last year, an additional left-turn lane was added to U.S. 220 South for traffic turning onto U.S. 11 North. The lane was added to ease congestion from truck traffic getting off Exit 150A and blocking the center lane in an effort to get into the far left-turn lane.

"Anything that improves traffic flow through Exit 150 is a good thing," Botetourt County Administrator Jerry Burgess said of the latest round of improvements. "It's too bad that it's being piecemealed and that it's being done just within a very constrained budget. At the same time, we appreciate the fact that anything is being done down there, especially given the problems with transportation funding right now."

Don Assaid, chairman of the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors, said the added turn lane will improve traffic flow, but he called it a "Band-Aid" approach to addressing the overall congestion problem.

He has maintained for years that removing the truck stops would eliminate the truck traffic that causes much the congestion.

"The only long-term solution is relocate the truck stops. No matter what you do to that intersection ... if it does not involve relocating the truck stop it is not going to have a major impact. That's my personal, strong belief," he said.