Serving You For The Next 100 Years

Residents and businesses in the city of Roanoke, the county of Roanoke and the town of Vinton generate 700 tons of waste every day. These valley localities have created the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority and joined forces with Norfolk Southern in an innovative public-private partnership to take out the trash.

Tinker Creek Transfer Station	Each locality collects its own trash using its own equipment. After collection, refuse trucks deliver the trash to the Resource Authority's Tinker Creek Transfer Station at 1020 Hollins Road in the city of Roanoke, near the intersection of Orange Avenue and Hollins Road. The Transfer Station was designed by citizens and planners to resemble a Norfolk Southern shop or office building and to be an asset to the neighborhood. At the Transfer Station, waste is loaded into specially-designed rail cars and covered with watertight lock-down lids. Each rail car holds 65 tons of waste, making them among the largest on the railroad. At the end of the day, all waste that has been collected and loaded into the 10-12 rail cars are transported 33 miles on the Waste Line Express by Norfolk Southern to the landfill.
Smith Gap Station	The Smith Gap Station is located on Bradshaw Road in the county of Roanoke. The building is designed to resemble a rural train station. Upon arriving at the landfill, the rail cars are uncoupled and positioned for unloading the following day. The train makes a daily trip to Smith Gap with the loaded cars from the Transfer Station and returns the same day with empty rail cars from the previous day's load.
Smith Gap Station Rotary Dumper	At the Smith Gap Station the rail cars are unloaded using the largest rotary dumper in the world. The rail cars are rotated upside down to remove the waste. The unloading operation takes place inside the tipper building, where the waste is inspected and loaded into haul trucks for burial in a 1,200 acre, environmentally protected landfill disposal area that meets all state and federal regulations.

The Roanoke Valley Resource Authority was formed in 1992. Seven members, appointed by each of the three participating localities, serve on the Authority's board of directors. The Authority owns the Tinker Creek Transfer Station, the Smith Gap Landfill, and the Waste Line Express train. This regional public-private partnership is the first project in the United States that uses rail as the sole transportation link between a solid waste transfer station and a landfill.

The schedule for the regular monthly meetings of the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority, on Wednesdays at 12 noon at the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority, Tinker Creek Transfer Station, 1020 Hollins Road, NE, Roanoke, Virginia, for the current calendar year is as follows:

January 23, 2008
February 27, 2008
March 26, 2008
~~April 23, 2008~~ Cancelled
May 28, 2008
June 25, 2008
August 13, 2008
September 24, 2008
October 29, 2008
December 10, 2008

Other emergency or special meetings of the Authority may be scheduled in accordance with applicable law.

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