The Virginia Department of Transportation is currently managing a $24 million project to reconfigure Hydraulic Road and its intersection with U.S. 29 through a series of alterations.
One of these is a roundabout at Hillsdale Drive that opened to traffic on August 6, a week ahead of schedule. Another that is being staged right now is a pedestrian bridge across U.S. 29 near Zan Road. A third will be changes to how both Brandywine Drive and Michie Drive access Hydraulic Road.
A fourth will be put into permanent effect on Sunday night when crews will work to reconfigure the traffic signals at the intersection to prevent left-hand turn lanes onto U.S. 29 from both eastbound and westbound Hydraulic Road.
“By rush hour Monday morning, the new traffic pattern will be in place,” reads a press release sent out on August 20. “In the new configuration, only through and right-turn movements will be allowed on Hydraulic Road at U.S. 29.”
As part of the work, concrete medians will be reconstructed to deter anyone who wants to make that movement illegally.
VDOT’s website has suggestions for how to navigate the area, including a recommendation that vehicles seeking to go south on U.S. 29 from Hydraulic Road would instead turn right onto U.S. 29 and take a U-Turn at Seminole Court.
By eliminating one full movement of vehicular traffic, there will be more time to create a cycle way for pedestrians to cross the intersection, most likely in two steps.
“With this project element, VDOT will install a pedestrian refuge island, ADA ramps, street lighting at crosswalks, pedestrian signal poles and crosswalks on the south leg of the intersection and the Hydraulic Road approaches to improve mobility and safety for pedestrians,” reads a VDOT website on the overall project.
The projects under construction were fully funded only after the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization submitted a much larger $187 million Smart Scale request in 2020 that included a full grade-separated interchange at Hydraulic and U.S. 29. That was not recommended for funding and planners broke the elements into multiple pieces. (view the application)
Another element of that 2020 application that eventually received funding through Smart Scale is the conversion of the traffic signal at District Avenue and Hydraulic Road into a roundabout that is still in the design phase.
Earlier this month, City Council issued their preference for that roundabout to allow vehicles to enter and exit Cedar Hill Drive into the Meadows neighborhood. The official public hearing for that project won’t be held until some time next year.
For a snapshot of planning history, take a look at an article I wrote for Charlottesville Tomorrow in December 2008 that describes a meeting at which the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization prioritized the Rio Road intersection over the Hydraulic Road intersection. At the time, a business group called the North Downtown Business Council was vehemently opposed to any grade separated interchange and wanted the Western Bypass built instead.
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