Council signs off on revenue-sharing application for sidewalk in Meadows neighborhood

In addition to Smart Scale, the Virginia Department of Transportation has a funding mechanism that allows localities to get up to half of the cost of developing projects. The revenue-sharing program runs every other year and City Council was asked to sign off on an application at their meeting on October 20.

“We’re looking at a sidewalk on Cedar Hill Road,” said Ben Chambers, the city’s transportation planning manager. “This is between Hydraulic and North Berkshire Road. There’s sidewalks on both ends of this, but not on Cedar Hill Road.”

Cedar Hill Road is in the city’s Meadows neighborhood north of the U.S. 250 bypass, a location somewhat cut off from other parts of the city. A funded Smart Scale project will see the intersection of District Avenue, Hydraulic Road, and Cedar Hill Road converted into a roundabout.

Chambers said this sidewalk was identified in a recent prioritization as a Tier 2 meaning the city would need to reach beyond its own coffers to build.

Under previous administrations, Charlottesville struggled to complete projects and still has yet to break ground on any Smart Scale projects. City Manager Sam Sanders has been working to address the city’s capacity to remove the “deficient” label assigned by VDOT.

“Earlier this year, VDOT came to us and said, you guys are doing a lot better with your locally administered programs,” Chambers said. “We’d like you to start applying for some things. Let’s look at projects that you might want to move forward with. And we said, hey, we’ve got a sidewalk priority list now.”

Chambers said the project has a $5.2 million cost estimate for two blocks of sidewalk but that’s because there are still unknowns about stormwater management and right of way that will become more known with additional survey. VDOT adds a 30 percent contingency to all cost estimates.

Under VDOT’s revenue sharing program, localities pay at least half the cost.

Last August, Council indicated its preference that the roundabout allow motorists to travel into the Meadows neighborhood.

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