Draper Road Streetscape

The Vision

The Draper Road Streetscape Plan seeks to create a welcoming, vibrant, walkable, bikeable, and livable downtown area along the Draper Road corridor from College Avenue and Washington Street. The Streetscape Plan was developed in 2021-2022 using a community-driven design process. The planning team developed four draft conceptual designs for the streetscape and then sought community input on these designs. Community feedback was then used to narrow down to one final ‘bold + blended’ plan. The new streetscape will limit vehicle access and include wider sidewalks with outdoor dining options, meaningful public spaces, an aesthetically pleasing streetscape, and an enhanced bicycle setting. The entire Plan can be found in the documents section along with a short document that illustrates and describes the preferred bold + blended option.

Short Term (2023 - 2028)

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic allowed the Town to try something that would have been difficult to do otherwise - temporarily close Draper Road between College Avenue and Jackson Street. As part of the closure, outdoor dining was allowed in the area by adjacent restaurants, planters were added all around the space to liven it up, and shade tents and tables were added to the space to create a safe outdoor area during the pandemic.

This closure has been so well received that the Town has decided to keep this section of the road closed until the Draper Road Streetscape Plan is built. Recognizing the temporary space is well-utilized and construction of the Draper Road improvements cannot begin until 2028, the Town will be making some additional interim improvements in May of 2024. The changes will include better defining the dining areas, adding a defined walkway for pedestrians and bicycles, creating more seating with shade in the area, and adding a small stage for impromptu performances. More details of the interim improvements are outlined in the plan and renderings found in the documents section on the right-hand side of this page.

Long Term (2028 & Beyond)

The Town has applied for Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Revenue Sharing funds to help fund the long-term construction of Draper Road. While these funds will help split the costs of construction in half, the Town will not have access to these funds until 2027. Therefore, the final streetscape design will take place in 2027, followed by construction in 2028. The final design will reflect the community input received when the Streetscape plan was developed in 2021 and 2022 and will be a mixture of the bold and blended approaches mentioned in the vision section above. This will create a space that connects the Virginia Tech Campus, and Downtown from College Avenue through Market Square Park at Roanoke Street, and beyond with a cohesive look that enhances the vibrancy of downtown.