A new spot on Keagy

It is a little different along Keagy Road in Roanoke County than it was when we first moved to the area in 1989.

There are already a lot more homes than there were then.  Now it looks like there will be lots more homes, traffic, and people.  The first new homes are rising in a large development.

Driving on Keagy in 1989 was like descending into the woods.  Now the woods are yielding to homes.

There will still be trees around. It just will not be a pleasant tunnel of green in the summer.  Part of me really hates to see hilltops leveled, but another part knows that more than ever people need to live close to services.

We have really enjoyed living on the mountain behind Fairway Forest and Keagy Road.  We could be at Kroger in just a few minutes.  Medical care, a pharmacy, and restaurants were also all convenient to the area.  Even our kids' schools were just around the corner.  So it makes sense that others want to live in the same area that we have enjoyed for so long.

I can remember our neighborhood the first winter.  The snow plow turned around half way up our hill.  They were convinced that no one lived any further up the hill.  We were the only home.  Now we are surrounded by homes, and there are new roads that were not even there when we moved.  Those roads and filled with homes.

We drove out Hidden Woods this evening.  At one time we called it the "new section."  Now from looking at the trees, it is hard to believe it hasn't always been there.

Still I know that once in a while a development gets built and no one comes.  As we drove by the new shops on Keagy, I could not help but wonder what will there in twenty years.

There will be businesses, but I cannot imagine what they will be.  I hope they find some tenants soon.

Almost twenty years ago, I never expected Electric Road to become such a busy spot.   While it is not Northern Virginia traffic, it still is impressive compared to what it used to be.

Roanoke and Interstate 81 seemed like a trip back in time in 1989 especially to a family moving from Columbia, Maryland where acres of trees could disappear almost overnight. 

I made many trips to the area before we moved.  Interstate 81 was such that you could put your car on cruise control and not worry about it.

Change does not happen quickly in the Roanoke Valley, but it does happen. 

Development rules and especially storm water mangement are changing drastically in many areas.  I know in Coastal North Carolina we have some new rules that are going to make it much harder to build dense subdivisions.  The rules are designed to protect our waters.

I hope someone is thinking about the Roanoke River while all this construction is happening on Keagy.