On April 2, 2025, the six members of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors an update on area projects from Carrie Shepheard, the resident engineer for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Charlottesville Residency.
Shepheard began with updates on projects that are in preliminary engineering beginning with a ten-foot-wide shared use path that will travel between Carrsbrook Drive and Seminole Lane on U.S. 29.
“The Route 29 Shared Use Path right now is in final design and we have a spring [advertising] date,” Shepherd said. “We’re looking at June for that add date and the construction will follow shortly thereafter. And we’re looking at about six to eight months for construction for that project.”
Another project will add a park and ride lot at Exit 107. The Commonwealth Transportation Board will take that project up later this month as they have to approve a change to the limited access highway at that location.
Later this fall, VDOT will advertise for construction bids for a series of improvements on U.S. 250 at Pantops. Another project to replace a bridge on Fontaine Avenue west of the U.S. 29/250 bypass has been delayed because the first bid didn’t yield a contract. So that project will be bundled with two other projects.
Construction should begin later this spring on construction of four roundabouts across the county as well as a change to the intersection of Rio Road East and Belvedere Drive. This includes conversion of the intersection of U.S. 250, Virginia Route 240, and Brown’s Gap Road into a roundabout just to the east of Crozet. That will require some temporary road closures such as one for Browns Gap Road which is also known as Route 680.
“We’re going to use the timeframe after school is out to have to have the detour for 680. So that we’re minimizing disruption as much as possible,” Shepheard said.
After that construction will start on a roundabout at Old Lynchburg Road and Fifth Street Extended.
“We expect that hopefully into the fall and then the Belvedere-Green T and John Warner Parkway roundabout will follow,” Shepheard said.
A design public hearing will be held for the next bundle which includes the Fontaine Avenue bridge, changes to the Fontaine interchange, and conversion of the intersection of District Avenue and Hydraulic into a roundabout.
There are currently restrictions on Old Ivy Road to replace a bridge across U.S. 29 / 250 at the western end that Shepheard said should be complete in the summer of 2026.
Another transportation issue in Albemarle at the moment is a review of all of the roads that currently do not allow trucks to travel through.
“We have been reviewing all of the truck restricted routes in Albemarle County to make sure that they are still valid,” Shepheard said. “Most recently we completed a review of 22/231 for the overlength restriction. That has been verified that the overlength restriction is still valid. There are two curves on that road that are not large enough to accommodate trucks that are over length.”
One question from a member of the Board of Supervisors illustrates information gaps that can form when multiple jurisdictions have control over portions of a transportation corridor.
“Do we have any movement at all with the city synchronizing their lights?” asked Supervisor Diantha McKeel. “They promised to do that years ago. You know what I’m talking about. From the city to the end of the county.”
McKeel asked if a group called the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee had discussed that. That group was created after 2019 when Albemarle and Charlottesville both agreed to end a public body called the Planning and Coordination Council on which two elected officials from both communities. What goes by the acronym LUEPC is a closed-door body that is not open to members of the public and minutes are usually an attendance sheet. Here’s the one from February 2025.
Shepheard was at the last meeting but didn’t have much information.
“There have been discussions with the city,” Shepheard said. “There was one recently that I unfortunately was not a part of. It was more technical in nature, but I do. They do have a phasing program, I think right now to start upgrading their signals and looking at their signal timings.”
In December 2024, the City of Charlottesville awarded a contract to Econolite for an advanced traffic management system.
“The deployment is occurring in two phases,” said Afton Schneider, the city’s director of communications and public engagement. “The first phase encompasses 50 intersections and is expected to be installed, integrated, and tested by late June 2025. The second phase is comprised of 25 additional locations which are expected to be brought online in late 2025 or early 2026.”
There you are.
Before you go: This is a strange segment because it first appeared in the podcast edition from April 4, 2025. Then it went out in the April 7, 2025 newsletter. For some reason posting here took until April 10. Oh well!
