Urgent: I-81 Exit 150 Public Comment — Affects US Bike Route 76

***Repost of a message on the Virginia Bicycling Federation blog.***

Please submit a comment and help support bicycle accomodations in this project as is required by official VDOT policy. Bike Route 76 was established in for the 1976 US bicentennial and runs all the way to the west coast.

Urgent: I-81 Exit 150 (Roanoke-Cloverdale) Public Comment — Affects US Bike Route 76

via Virginia Bicycling Federation by admin on 3/13/12

The existing I-81 Exit 150 redesign project at Cloverdale does not include bicycle accommodations. This is a critical interchange for cyclists. The project includes portions of U.S Route 11 which is heavily used by local cyclists as well as by cyclists on U.S. Bike Route 76 to access Roanoke and other accommodations. The only opportunity we have to request that the project include bicycle accommodations is for you to comment by e-mail BEFORE MIDNIGHT THIS COMING SUNDAY, MARCH 18, which is when the public comment period closes. Comments must be submitted to saleminfo@vdot.virginia.gov and must include the subject heading "Interstate 150 Exit 150 Public Hearing Comment". You may use the following suggested comment if you wish:

Route 11 is heavily used by bicyclists traveling between Roanoke and Botetourt county and is also used by bicyclists traveling on US Bike Route 76 to access Roanoke and other accommodations. The present design does not provide any accommodation for bicyclists despite VDOT's policy that it should.

I request that representatives from VDOT meet with the Bicycle Advisory Committee of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission, and other stakeholders, to discuss how bicycle accommodations may be included in the I-81 Exit 150 project.

Thanks to Dave Harrison of the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club for this alert.

Subscribe to Virginia Bicycling Federation using Google Reader