Virginia transportation panel briefed on $20 million for Boulders Road project

The Commonwealth Transportation Board will vote in January on a proposal to pay for just under half of the costs of a roadway project that would provide a second entrance to Albemarle County’s Rivanna Futures campus.

On November 19, 2025, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors had been expected to vote on a resolution to allow the Office of Economic Development to proceed with an application for funding for a special pool of state transportation funding controlled by the Governor’s office.

“The Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund (TPOF) assistance is awarded at the discretion of the Governor in the form of grants, revolving loans, or other financial assistance to an agency or local government of the Commonwealth for activities associated with eligible transportation projects,” reads a website of the Virginia Partnership for Economic Development.

Albemarle has requested $20 million from the fund to help cover the cost of a $42 million extension of Boulders Road. Supervisors agreed in May 2023 to invest $58 million to purchase over 462 acres around the Rivanna Station military base.

While a version of this road project is briefly mentioned in the 2011 Places29 Master Plan, the extension was not included on a list of 89 transportation priorities last endorsed by the Board of Supervisors in 2019. Economic Development staff advanced the project due to the October announcement that AstraZeneca would invest $4.5 billion at Rivanna Futures.

Shortly before the November 19 meeting, the resolution to confirm support from elected officials was pulled from consideration and the public process at the local level did not commence. The staff report is listed as item #8.4 on the consent agenda and but the original link originally provided in the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter is now broken.

“After review, we realized that we initiated the local process prematurely,” said Abbey Stumpf, the county’s director of communications and public engagement, in a response sent to Charlottesville Community Engagement at the time. “Staff are working diligently to get this right, and that means pausing now to make sure our actions are fully aligned and in the proper sequence.”

The Albemarle Economic Development Authority had also been expected to hear details at their meeting on November 18 but that item was also deferred and the staff report was removed from the website.

On December 9, Deputy County Executive Trevor Henry and County Executive Jeffrey Richardson appeared before the Commonwealth Transportation Board to present details of the $42 million project.

“This really is a critical road project to serve the existing functions that are at this site, but also are needed in the advancing of the AstraZeneca project that the governor announced a couple of months ago in our work with the state,” Henry said, noting that Albemarle County would be administering the project.

According to the presentation, the project would include a 2,300 foot roadway with a roundabout near Boulders Court to provide access to several parcels. There would be a full intersection at Austin Drive. Albemarle County would provide $10 million and AstraZeneca would contribute $12 million.

Albemarle’s $10 million match will come from a combination of sources according to Chief Financial Officer Jacob Sumner, including an in-kind contribution based on the donation of right of way for the roadway.

The rest will come from a mixture of proceeds from a future bond sale, cash from the county’s Economic Development Fund, and funding from the Economic Development Authority.

“Staff will recommend an appropriation of the project at a future Board of Supervisors meeting,” Sumner said.

A staff report for the Economic Development Authority’s November 18 stated the body would be asked to contribute $500,000 but that staff report has also been deleted from the county website.

Henry said Albemarle learned of the opportunity for AstraZeneca in late June.

“We knew it was a pharmaceutical, but we didn’t know the name of the company,” Henry said. “We were very responsive to the state and we worked through what felt like a speed of light selection process with the company.”

Henry said the project will support future tenants at Rivanna Futures adding there are about 80 acres remaining for development.

The CTB also got a briefing on a request from Chesterfield for $35 million to fill a shortfall for the West Area Arterial Collector.

The public process for these funds has not concluded at the state level.

“The next steps beyond today will be public meetings will be held on both of these projects because they exceed the cost of $25 million as required by the code for the [CTB] board to allocate dollars,” said John Lawson, deputy secretary of transportation.

Shep Miller, the outgoing Secretary of Transportation, said one of these projects has recently been approved to support tourism in Williamsburg.

“In essence, what happens is the Governor directs these,” Miller said. “We go through a process, including what we’re doing today, and then we vote to affirm the Governor’s direction. So we’ll do that at the next meeting.”

That meeting will take place on January 6 before Governor Glenn Youngkin leaves office and a new administration takes over.

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