Roanoke County backs SmartScale transportation applications, highlights Route 419, Peters Creek, Plantation Road safety projects

Roanoke County supervisors voted unanimously June 23 to back a set of SmartScale funding applications that county staff say would advance safety and multimodal improvements across several high-need corridors.

Megan Cronise, who presented the report to the board, said the county has had 19 projects funded through SmartScale since 2015 totaling $156.3 million and described the next round of proposed applications. "We had community engagement starting last June with over a thousand survey responses about what are the problems with Route 419," Cronise said, outlining a corridor study for Route 419 phase three from Starky Road to Springwood Park Drive.

The county application for Route 419 at Colonial Avenue would replace flashing yellow left-turn signals with protected left-turn phasing (a green arrow), extend left-turn lanes and add a right-turn lane and median treatments to limit problematic left turns, Cronise said. "We will also extend the left turn lane westbound on Route 419 and construct a right turn lane on southbound Colonial Avenue," she said.

Staff also proposed a set of intersection-focused projects on Peters Creek Road: offsetting and extending left-turn lanes to improve sight distance and storage, installing pedestrian signals and crosswalks, and adding a Peters Creek–Williamson roundabout to replace an existing signalized intersection. "We are focusing on smaller, leaner, intersection-based projects that address crash needs and attempt to mitigate crashes for round seven," Cronise said.

For the Plantation Road Food Lion–Walmart corridor, the county presented two alternatives: a restricted crossing U-turn (R CUT) that would preserve left turns into the businesses while preventing dangerous lefts across Plantation Road, and a full median option that would convert the corridor to right-in/right-out access. Both concepts would add a midblock rectangular rapid-flashing-beacon crosswalk, upgraded transit pads and shelters, and sidewalk links to improve pedestrian access to existing bus stops.

Cronise outlined procedural deadlines: county applications are due Aug. 3, 2026; the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) will release recommended funding scenarios in January 2027 and adopt the six-year plan in June 2027. She emphasized the role of corridor studies and regional collaboration in making applications competitive. The board thanked Cronise and her team; after discussion supervisors moved, seconded and adopted a resolution supporting the applications.

What happens next: Roanoke County staff will finalize and submit the SmartScale applications by the August deadline and continue community outreach and right-of-way work as projects move through CTB scoring and the six-year plan process.