The Town of Blacksburg has selected architectural and engineering firm Whitman, Requardt & Associates (WRA) to design conceptual plans for a bicycle and pedestrian crossing at the Prices Fork Road and U.S. Route 460 Bypass Interchange. The work will also include a Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Operational and Safety Analysis Report (OSAR), and a traffic analysis to determine current usage and circulation patterns, which will inform proposed interchange improvements.
The Prices Fork corridor sees a significant flow of bicycle and pedestrian travel, in addition to vehicular traffic. This area is home to a sizable population of Virginia Tech students, numerous residential developments in the Town of Blacksburg and Montgomery County, and three public schools situated west of the Prices Fork Road and U.S. Route 460 Bypass Interchange. The existing bridges on the Prices Fork Road and U.S. Route 460 Bypass Interchange, designed and built in the 1970s, were not constructed to handle the large volume of bicycle and pedestrian traffic that is seen today and is predicted in the future.
The central objective of this project is to enhance bicycle and pedestrian mobility through the existing Prices Fork/Route 460 interchange area by incorporating a 10-foot wide Shared Use Path. Potential future interchange modifications to accommodate traffic growth are also being studied to ensure the compatibility of a new Shared Use Path through the area. It is anticipated that a bicycle/pedestrian crossing, along with providing safe access to the bridge, will require revisions to the entrance and/or exit ramps of the existing interchange. This project is in the early stages of design.
The Town is seeking feedback on the project from January to February 2024. Input gathered will help the project team assess designs that best address community need. In March 2024, several proposed designs will be provided to the town by WRA, and a public engagement meeting will be held. Conceptual design plans will be ready for the VDOT SmartScale funding application by mid to late summer.
Share your feedback or ask a question about this project by visiting: https://letstalkblacksburg.org/pricesfork-460-bypass-interchange-study.
Town of Blacksburg
