Three roundabout projects to get underway in Albemarle

Albemarle County has received funding to convert three more intersections to roundabouts. In the past year, roundabouts have opened at the intersections of both Route 20 and Proffit Road and U.S. 250 and Route 151. VDOT will advertise all three under one package. 

  • The traffic signal at Route 53 at Route 20 would be converted to a roundabout, with a new sidewalk on the western side. There would be a shared use path from the roundabout to the trailhead of the Saunders-Monticello Trail. 
  • The intersection of the John Warner Parkway with Rio Road East will also become a roundabout. This will include a new sidewalk into the Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center, relocation of a bus stop, creation of new crosswalks across all quadrants of the intersection, and improved connections to the shared-use path that runs next to the parkway. 
  • Old Lynchburg Road and 5th Street Extended would also be converted. This would also provide sidewalk and shared use path segments, and would relocate a bus stop to allow for a pull-off. This is in the general location of the county’s office building on 5th Street Extended and the Albemarle Business Campus. 

The design public hearing for these projects will be held in this summer and a request for qualifications will go out for firms to bid on the project. The current schedule shows that the Commonwealth Transportation Board would award a contract in the spring of 2024. The initial project budget had been $26.9 million but that has increased to $30.4 million due to inflation. 

Aerial overview of the new configuration at the John Warner Parkway and East Rio Road (Credit: Virginia Department of Public Transportation)

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