"For a long time, we never thought this was ever going to get done because there were a lot of setbacks," Steven Webb, owner of Proud Pops Barber Shop, told WFXR in mid-September about the new Wasena Bridge. The bridge has been closed for more than two years, and it is now close to finished.
The reopening also starts the next phase. The City plans to replace the Wiley Drive low-water bridge between Smith Park and River's Edge Park, and that work closes one of the most-used stretches of the Roanoke River Greenway. The detour the City has described for that closure runs across the new Wasena Bridge. If you walk, bike, paddle, or meet friends along this part of the river, the order of these projects will shape your next year more than any single ribbon cutting.
Where the Wasena Bridge stands in early October
WFXR reported on September 17 that the bridge was 95 percent complete. The whole deck was finished, and a new 12-inch water line under the bridge was already in service. Project manager Josephus Johnson-Koroma said he hopes to open the bridge by Thanksgiving. He also said the new structure should last 150 years.
The City posted a construction update video on September 23. It still put the project at 95 percent and listed the remaining work:
- Coatings
- The roundabout on the upper side of the bridge
- Barriers
- Landscaping, scheduled for October
- Paving
- Greenway connections
So far, Thanksgiving is a target. No firm opening day or ribbon cutting has been announced. The last item on that list matters most for Greenway users, because the bridge's link to the trail also affects a detour that is in place right now.
The detour you may already be using
Since June 8, Little Main Street has been closed to Greenway traffic. The City's alert, last updated September 28, sends users along Winchester Avenue SW to 8th Street SW, under the new Wasena Bridge, and back onto the Greenway at the Wiley Drive roundabout. The end date is listed as "TBD."
That roundabout is one of the pieces the City's video lists as unfinished. Until the bridge's approaches and Greenway connections are done, the trail on the Wasena side keeps routing around the work. It's a good idea to check the City's Greenway alerts page before a morning run. The same page listed a one-day Wiley Drive maintenance closure on September 30, a reminder that short closures can come up with only a few days' notice.
The closure that depends on the new bridge
The City's project page for the Wiley Drive low-water bridge lists construction as beginning "late 2026 - early 2027, lasting 9-12 months." The new bridge will sit higher and should flood less often. The current one floods often enough that PedalSafe ROA photographed it under water on February 16 of this year.
PedalSafe members asked City Council to keep the crossing partly open during the work. In January, the City replied that "there is no safe or feasible way to keep the Greenway open at this location while the bridge is being replaced. The existing structure must be removed all at once, and the limited right-of-way leaves no room for a temporary path."
The City has described a signed detour that goes like this:
- Cross the Wasena Bridge.
- Travel through Highland Park.
- Connect with Franklin Road at Walnut.
- Cross at Reserve and rejoin the Roanoke River Greenway in River's Edge Park.
Step one only works once the Wasena Bridge is open. The route comes from PedalSafe's February write-up, which listed the closure's timing as "TBD" and quoted the route as the City's stated plan. Until the City posts a final detour, treat the route as preliminary, because it could still change. What the City has described so far depends on Wasena opening first.
Do the math on the posted schedule and the Wiley closure could run well into 2027. A start in early 2027 plus twelve months reaches early 2028.
What's happening in the water
The river itself is part of the same sequence. The City is building what it calls Virginia's first in-river park. It runs from under Memorial Bridge, past Vic Thomas and Wasena Parks, down to a Wiley Drive low-water bridge, with waves, calm eddies, a wading area for families, and stone-terrace seating planned along the way.
The City's project page lays out the phases in order. The ADA access point under Memorial Bridge was completed in November 2025. Work upstream of the first Wiley Drive low-water bridge followed in December 2025. The section under the Wasena pedestrian bridge is listed for late 2026. In an August 24 update, the City said crews had finished concrete on one in-stream structure and would move part of the temporary cofferdam to reach other areas. It added that the work was scheduled to keep disruption to Greenway users low.
Paddlers had their own adjustments this summer. Roanoke Parks and Recreation moved the Wasena Park take-out upstream of the work zone, advised against general wading and playing there, and said the spot was unsuitable as a put-in during the Main Street bridge work. That guidance was written for summer 2026. With the Wasena pedestrian bridge phase still ahead, it's worth checking the City's river access page before putting a boat in this fall.
The businesses that waited it out
The bridge closure did not affect every shop the same way, and local reporting has tracked several of them by name.
In March, WSLS spoke with Bruce Todaro, owner of The Green Goat. He said sales fell 30 percent in 2024 and another 35 percent in 2025, which he attributed to the bridge work. He also said he lost walk-in traffic from the Greenway. Todaro said his other business, Hang 10, had been hit hard too. Ted Snyder of Wasena City Tap Room & Grill called the two years a stretch of stagnation, and said his St. Patrick's Day sales were down "a couple thousand dollars" from the year before. Jared Rigby, general manager of River Rock Climbing, called the project inconvenient but said he didn't know that it had affected the business itself. Those figures were reported in March 2026, before the deck was finished.
Kind Baking Company has the unusual history of a bakery that opened just before its main bridge closed. "We have gotten to know the customers in the neighborhood really well," owner Bryn McDaniel told WFXR in September, "and we're looking forward to opening, so we can gain some more customers from downtown."
One outfitter moved before the bridge was done. Roanoke Mountain Adventures closed its shop next to the Wasena Tap Room on August 30 and opened on September 4 at Black Dog Salvage, 902 13th Street SW. The new store has about three times the retail floor space of the old one. If your paddling or bike gear came from the Wasena shop, the next visit is a short drive west.
Webb's concern about the reopening is traffic speed. "Hopefully the city will do something to keep people slow," he said, "because we still have a lot of pedestrians and kids that come through here all the time."
Up the hill in Grandin, October fills in
While the riverfront sorts out its routes, the Grandin Road calendar is full this month, and none of it requires crossing a work zone.
The Grandin Theatre has several October screenings on its schedule:
- Tuesday, October 6, 7 p.m. Popcorn, part of the Terror in the Aisles series, $6 plus tax
- Saturday, October 10, 10 a.m. Frankenstein, a free Classic Series screening
- Tuesday, October 13, 7 p.m. La Bamba, free, for Hispanic Heritage Month
- Wednesday, October 14, 7 p.m. Demons, Terror in the Aisles
Grandin ChillageFest is set for Saturday, October 24, at Grandin and Westover. The listing gives $5 admission, free entry for children 12 and under, and gates at 5:30 p.m. The Historic Grandin Village Business Association notes that the street will be closed from 3 to 10 p.m. that day, so plan any afternoon errands on Grandin Road around it.
Further out, Martin Hospitality Group announced plans in late August for a neighborhood bistro and café at 1602 Grandin Road SW. It doesn't have a name yet. The plan calls for coffee service and breakfast or brunch, lunch, and dinner, with about 60 indoor seats and a patio of roughly 40. The target is spring 2027, pending approvals and renovations. If both projects keep to their posted schedules, the bistro would open while the Wiley Drive low-water bridge is still closed and Greenway traffic is following the detour across the new Wasena Bridge.
Our family-led team has worked in the Roanoke Valley since 1991, and we're watching the Wasena opening and the Wiley Drive start dates as closely as you are. If you have questions about how these projects might affect a home along the corridor, The Crouch Team is glad to talk it through. Book an appointment and we'll share what we know.
