The Roanoke Times | File 2008

Virginia Department of Transportation surveyors plan to widen part of North Fork Road (top left) to support Norfolk Southern's planned intermodal yard.

Virginia Department of Transportation surveyors are heading to Elliston to begin preliminary work needed to widen part of Virginia 603, or North Fork Road, to support a planned railroad intermodal yard.

VDOT recently notified 40 property owners whose land may be taken for the project that surveyors may show up May 21 or anytime during the next year, said agency spokesman Jason Bond.

A two-mile stretch of the road is to become a major truck route between Interstate 81 and a planned intermodal rail yard in Elliston. An intermodal yard is an open-air facility for transferring shipping containers between trucks and trains.

"The purpose of these proposed improvements is to enhance safety and upgrade the roadway features," VDOT wrote in a letter to owners.

Even though the letter does not mention the railroad yard, at least several residents who received the letter knew of the connection. The intermodal project, which is expected to span about 65 acres and cost $50 million, has been debated in Elliston for years.

James Kingery, a lifetime North Fork Road resident, reacted calmly to the letter in his mailbox, he said. He said he is neither for or against the intermodal yard. He said he lives about a quarter of a mile from the highway, which is expected to teem with heavy trucks once the rail facility opens. He said about 10 households are on the affected stretch of North Fork Road.

Residents could have several years to react to what the project might mean. While design of the widening is scheduled this year, construction is slated to begin in 2011, Bond said. The project will span about two miles between U.S. 11/ 460 at the Ironto interchange and has been allocated $15 million.

It is unclear when the intermodal yard itself might be built.

Montgomery County has filed a lawsuit to block it, and Norfolk Southern Corp. has begun to buy land rights.