Welcome to Roanoke Valley Field Notes, a collection of news and miscellaneous notes from the past week in the valley and a look ahead at what’s happening next week. Here’s last week’s edition if you missed it.
As always, email me at samantha@cardinalnews.org to share your thoughts, ideas, questions and concerns.
Let’s get into the past week in the valley and what to look for in the coming week:
USA Cycling to return to the Roanoke Valley
USA Cycling announced on Monday that it will return to the Roanoke Valley for the 2027 Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships, marking the third consecutive year that the races will take place here.
Also on Monday, USA Cycling revealed the official courses for the 2026 races, which will take place at Carvins Cove, Elmwood Park and Explore Park from July 12 to July 19.
Last year, 1,200 athletes participated in the races throughout the valley, Landon Howard, Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge president, said in a press release from VBR and USA Cycling.
According to that release, USA Cycling will partner with the Local Organizing Committee’s Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge Foundation to add a $10 trails fee to each participant’s registration. The revenue from that fee will be used to support local trail-building and maintenance efforts.
In 2025, race registrations generated over $20,000, split evenly between Roanoke County Parks, Tourism and Recreation and Roanoke City Parks and Recreation, the release stated.
The races in July are split into three categories, with each event on its own day. Cross Country Marathon races will take place on July 12 at Carvins Cove. The next two days, participants are able to rest and practice. Cross Country Short Track races take place July 15 and 16 at Elmwood Park, and Cross Country Olympic Style races take place July 17 through July 19 at Explore Park.
Those who are interested in volunteering at the upcoming races can sign up here.
Roanoke council approves townhome rezoning
On Monday night, the Roanoke City Council approved a rezoning that will allow for 74 new townhomes on Westside Boulevard and Shenandoah Avenue in Northwest Roanoke.
The two parcels of land, totaling about six acres, are both currently vacant and zoned as residential, or R-5, districts. The applicant, Don Balzer with Cross Creek Development Corporation, requested rezoning the property to residential with conditions.
The property, according to agenda documents, is within walking distance of a grocery store, a park and the 11th Street Village Center.
The city’s comprehensive plan, City Plan 2040, suggests that this land should be used for general residential uses in the future, according to the agenda report.
Chris Burns, an agent with Westwood Professional Services, said that all townhomes will be ownership units and that there are no plans at this time to offer rental units.
Burns said in an email that building construction should begin in the summer of 2027.
“I hear from a lot of people who are looking for townhomes,” Vice Mayor Terry McGuire said during the meeting. “I think [townhomes are] a great pathway for people to get into owning property … I think there’s a huge market for this.”
Reopening and closure announced for stretches of Blue Ridge Parkway
On Friday, the Blue Ridge Parkway will reopen from milepost 105.8 at U.S. Route 460 to milepost 112 at Virginia Route 24, according to a press release from the National Park Service.
Milepost 112.2 at Virginia Route 24 to milepost 115.2 at Explore Park Road will be closed on or after June 22, but access to Explore Park will be available from the south, the release states. That closure will last eight to 10 weeks.
The closures are due to road pavement and reconstruction, funded through the Great American Outdoors Act, a federal fund that supports maintenance and repair backlogs in national parks.
The National Park Service website says the Blue Ridge Parkway is expected to receive more than $200 million from the act for multiple projects.
Blue Ridge Parkway road status and closures can be found here.
Meetings in the upcoming week
On Tuesday, the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors will meet at 2 p.m., with a public hearing in the evening at 6 p.m. The agenda can be found here once it’s posted.
