Regional planners are going to try once again to secure funding to lock down a cost estimate for a pedestrian and bicycle bridge across the Rivanna River in the Woolen Mills.
On Wednesday, the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization will consider a resolution for a federal RAISE grant to cover the cost of preliminary engineering that has a cost estimate of $42.5 million.
“The unknown risks associated with construction costs for the bridge have resulted in significant contingencies that need to be applied to baseline project costs in any funding application through existing state funding program,” reads a resolution the MPO Policy Board will consider.
“The completion of the preliminary engineering phase would result in better project understanding to develop more accurate estimates of the project construction costs.”
One member of the Charlottesville Planning Commission serves on the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and provided an update to his colleagues on December 10.
“Our costs are all over the place and we’re being told that we really need to nail those down more securely to have a hope,” said Phil d’Oronzio.
The TJPDC has twice sought this same funding through the RAISE program. RAISE stands for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity and is a discretionary program. In 2023 the application was noted as a “project of merit” but did not win funding.
“In the debrief from that year, when we learned that we were not awarded the funding, they said it continues to be a highly competitive application, please continue to submit it, there’s just not enough funding, very competitive national program,” said Christine Jacobs, the executive director of the TJPDC at the December 11 meeting of the MPO-Tech Committee.
The TJPDC tried again in 2024 but this project was not among three Virginia projects that ultimately received funding.
“We are working now both with VDOT and some other partners to bolster some of the data in the economic development section to see if we can bump the score but we really are hopeful the third time is a charm,” Jacobs said.
Albemarle County received a $2 million RAISE grant in 2022 for planning for a multimodal pathway between the Blue Ridge Tunnel and Charlottesville.
The MPO will also get a presentation on performance targets used to measure progress toward making roads and pathways safer.
“By establishing MPO safety targets, we agree to plan and program projects to contribute toward reducing fatalities and serious injuries on the transportation system,” reads a letter that will be sent to the Virginia Department of Transportation’s state highway safety engineer.
The MPO Policy Board meets at 4 p.m. in the TJPDC headquarters at 407 East Water Street. (agenda packet)
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