JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times

The interchange in Roanoke at Interstate 581 and Elm Avenue is one of the busiest interchanges in Western Virginia. The Virginia Department of Transportation has a $20 million project in mind to alleviate congestion but may not have the means to make it happen.

Good news, angry motorists: Next week the state's road agency will show off a plan to end Roanoke's rush-hour nightmare -- the Elm Avenue-Interstate 581 interchange.

The bad news: It's all a bit of a tease. There's no money to fund construction of the $20 million project, so, for the foreseeable future, commuters will have to continue creeping along the bridge and the interstate exit ramps one foot at a time.

But looking to give Roanokers, at the very least, a vision of a rosier, less congested future, the Virginia Department of Transportation is holding a public meeting on Jan. 14 to display and discuss its proposed solution to the Elm and I-581 problem.

Agency spokeswoman Heidi Underwood explained that "we have to move forward sometimes with plans even when there is no money. We plan for when there is money."

The transportation department's plan calls for widening the Elm Avenue bridge and adding turn lanes to the exit ramps leading off I-581 to Elm. The department estimates that 27,000 cars and trucks cross the bridge daily, and the dense traffic often backs up on the ramps and onto the interstate.

For many, VDOT can't start the project soon enough. "The Elm Avenue interchange area is considered by most local residents as the single worst traffic bottleneck in the city of Roanoke," noted one 2006 VDOT brochure.

Or, as city traffic engineer Mark Jamison put it: "I try not to go through there at 5 o'clock. I know it's frustrating for drivers."

The state tantalized local drivers with the project last year, first including it in its road budget and then yanking the money as part of its efforts to close a multibillion-dollar budget gap.

VDOT spokesman Jason Bond said that, even without construction funds, the agency hopes to get preliminary design work finished in order to request federal stimulus money. All of the stimulus money has been allocated, he said, but bids for federally funded projects are coming in lower than expected, potentially leaving some stimulus money available.

If VDOT can have the Elm Avenue project ready to go this year, it could be eligible if any federal money is left over. If the project doesn't win federal funding, he said, "it sits on the shelf."

The public meeting on the project is to be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Roanoke Civic Center.