Roanoke has begun pouring millions of dollars into Gainsboro, considered the Roanoke Valley’s oldest community.

A $5 million package, the investments will place about 8 percent of the city’s pandemic-relief grant of $64 million into road work, a playground, the improvement of housing and business site development.

Construction signs recently dotted Gainsboro Road near the 2nd Street Bridge as crews began the installation of pedestrian crossings, bike lanes, traffic-calming medians and new parking places. The work will trim distinct road sections from four lanes to three lanes.

The road will remain open during the duration of the construction, which should be mostly finished in the spring and cost about $2.5 million.

Another chunk of money will pay to design and build a 2,480-square-foot playground at 24 Wells Ave. NW, which will be accompanied by an amphitheater still yet to be designed.

The site chosen, a city-owned vacant lot, prompted questions at a Gainsboro Library meeting last week about the initiatives.

Northwest activist Martin Jeffrey recommended reserving the space for future business development. Others wondered if the playground – which will be fenced – would be too close to Wells Avenue traffic or too out of the way to attract kids.

But Ricardo Stovall voiced strong support.

“I love the plan. I love space. I love the design. It’s a small playground space. This is not Busch Gardens, okay? It’s going to bring attention to the neighborhood and it’s going to be a shining star there for future development,” he said.

City Planning Manager Wayne Leftwich said frontage on adjacent Henry Street is earmarked for business development. Two neighborhood groups gave a “thumbs up” to the playground location, he added. 

When Leftwich asked for a show of hands of those who support the leading playground location, about half of the attendees answered in the affirmative.

Leftwich offered to schedule a time for more discussion in the future, “but I think at this point, I believe we need to move forward on this playground and get things started,” he said.

In a Tuesday email to The Roanoke Rambler, Leftwich wrote: “I do think that as these highly visible projects are completed it will become more apparent that the City is making significant investments in the community and has a commitment to continue working with the neighborhoods to facilitate continued movement towards revitalization of the area.”

On that objective, the city plans to use a $770,000 federal transportation grant to evaluate the development potential of a list of city-owned and privately-owned properties in the area. They include 14 parking lots and vacant lots on Henry Street, eight vacant lots in Gainsboro, a vacant lot on Wells Avenue, two vacant lots on Loudon Avenue and two other lots, at 1 and 7 Jefferson St. SW. It will be a three-year process.

Meanwhile, there’s $500,000 in pandemic relief money for housing rehabilitation starting with four units in Historic Gainsboro. The project could expand to Gilmer Avenue Northwest.

In addition, the city has set out to redevelop two or more vacant or underutilized properties on 11th Street Northwest for housing or business using a $70,000 Main Street America grant.

A longer-term goal is to do similar work in neighborhood centers in Gainsboro, at Melrose Avenue at 24th Street Northwest, in the West End and on 9th Street Southeast, and that could bring access to another $500,000.