The latest information about transportation projects can often be found at the tail end of meetings such as the August 5 meeting of the technical committee of the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board.
Earlier this year, Charlottesville’s public works division began constructing several dozen road improvements intended to increase safety with a budget of $500,000.
The city’s website describes these as “projects that use low-cost, easy-to-deploy materials like paint, reflectors, and modular components, to address safety concerns for pedestrians and cyclists and to test potential long-term improvements.”
“We are about 75 percent of the way through deploying those quick builds,” said Ben Chambers, the city’s transportation planning manager. “Our goal was to get everything on the ground within this calendar year and we’re pretty sure we’re going to hit that.”
Chambers also said work continues on a project that would remove a vehicular lane on Fifth Street to make way for other forms of transportation.
“The current proposal would eliminate a single southbound lane on 5th Street Southwest between Cherry Avenue and 5th Street Station and install a protected bi-directional bikeway,” reads the website for the 5th Street SW Road Diet and Bikeway.
Chambers said the proposal will go to Council this fall. Another pilot program will see changes in the traffic pattern in the triangle around East High St
“We’re finalizing the engineering design drawings for that and the debate right now is what kind of signal do we get and where do we get it from and how do we make sure that we put it in the right place,” Chambers said.
That project will also have to go before Council for approval.
Before you go: This story was first sent out in the August 12, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and then posted here a day later. To learn more about Town Crier Productions, visit this page.
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