Charlottesville and Staunton area officials briefed on ten years of regional transportation planning

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962 mandated that any urbanized area with a population over 50,000 create a political body called a “metropolitan planning organization” to create oversight of a nationalized system of funding.

The Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia estimates that the Charlottesville metropolitan area had a population of 234,420 in 2024 and that the Staunton metropolitan area had 143,930. The policy boards for both MPOs met on the last day of September to touch base with each is doing.

“Our two MPOs have been holding this meeting since 2015 when it was established as a way for us to communicate, collaborate, and share resources for transportation planning projects that benefit both of the Metropolitan Planning Organizations,” said Christine Jacobs, the executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.

In 2017, the two groups signed a memorandum of agreement recognizing a 37 mile stretch of Interstate 64 as a critical link between the two communities as well as U.S. 250 and railway lines.

“This partnership continues to prove that transportation challenges don’t stop at jurisdictional and regional boundaries so neither should our solutions,” Jacobs said.

“These corridors connect our two regions by way of Staunton, Augusta County, Albemarle County, Crozet, and Charlottesville,” said Anne Cundy, executive director of the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission. “Not only is this corridor essential for residents but also for freight, for tourism, economic development, access to health care, and higher education on both sides of the mountain.”

Cundy said completed projects since the agreement include a congestion warning system on Afton Mountain, the reopened Blue Ridge Tunnel designed by Claudius Crozet, and a truck arrestor ramp on U.S. 250 on the Albemarle side of the mountain.

“As we look ahead, there’s the planned Virginia Breeze route that will connect the Shenandoah Valley to Hampton Roads with stops in both of our regions,” Cundy said. “That kind of work exemplifies the kind of connectivity that our partnership was designed to support and facilitate.”

Cundy said much of the work has shifted to multimodal transportation such as the Afton Express which has transitioned from a project funded through demonstration grants to one with dedicated sources of revenue.

“Trips originate in the western side of the mountain at the Staunton park-and-ride lot at Staunton Crossing, Augusta Health, Waynesboro park-and-ride lot,” said Devon Thompson, transit program manager at the CSPDC. “Then after traversing the mountain, the buses stop at UVA at both academic side and medical stops, West Main Street at Amtrak Station, Downtown Transit Center, the Omni Hotel and Downtown Mall, and Wegmans and 5th Street Station in Albemarle County.”

Thompson said ridership has grown from 2,000 trips in the first year of service in 2021 to 16,000 in the current calendar year. One reason ridership has grown is the University of Virginia’s creation of a program called Wahoo Commute which covers the cost of rides and provides incentives to employees who opt not to drive from the Shenandoah Valley.

“To be eligible, the folks must forfeit their yearly parking pass, which I’m sure they’re heartbroken to depart with, but they still get a special daily pass that they can use,” Thompson said. “This program also helps UVA reach their goal of carbon neutrality.”

In the future, the Afton Express will stop at a future park-and-ride lot that will be constructed at Exit 107 in Albemarle and coordination is underway with Jaunt and county officials on how to best utilize the space for transit connections.

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