Crozet Gazette: No takers for Eastern Avenue public-private partnership

The Crozet Master Plan calls for a north-south roadway called Eastern Avenue to serve as a key transportation link to support growth and development.

“Eastern Avenue was an identified project in the 2010 Crozet Master Plan and has been partially constructed,” reads the October 2021 update of the plan. “The 2010 Plan recommended that Eastern Avenue be constructed by developers during new development, with the exception of the Lickinghole Creek crossing, which would need to be a County initiated project.”

In the 2021 plan, Eastern Avenue is listed as the top “catalyst project” with a “realization timeframe” of five years. The cost is listed as “$$$$$” with that amount of dollar signs meaning that the project would cost over $12 million.

However, Supervisors learned in August 2023 that the project estimate increased dramatically to $40 million. Around the same time, other projects also increased such as proposed pedestrian bridge across the Rivanna River. The Commonwealth Transportation Board learned the previous fall that the cost of materials had increased and that cost estimators were assigning higher contingencies than previously.

Last year, Albemarle staff approached the Board of Supervisors with a plan to try to procure the project through a public-partnership in the hopes a developer or construction would be able to identify ways to take on some of the risk to bring costs down. Bids went out earlier this year.

On October 15, 2025, the Crozet Gazette reports that this first attempt has not resulted in a bidder. They reached out to the county’s Facilities and Environmental Services to get an update.

“Albemarle County received one Technical Proposal for the project on September 16, 2025, from Riverbend Development,” said Interim Deputy Director Blake Abplanalp.

Abplanalp went on to say that this procurement will not move forward and Albemarle will work with the Virginia Department of Transportation to learn more.

For the full response, please check out Lisa Martin’s story posted on the Crozet Gazette.

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