Albemarle County is slowly getting into the business of planning and implementing transportation projects such as new sidewalks on Commonwealth Drive and an extension of Boulders Road.
For the most part, though, the Virginia Department of Transportation handles that function for the county. On July 15, the Board of Supervisors got an update from Carrie Shepheard, the administrator of the Charlottesville Residency.
For the past decade, VDOT has bundled projects together in order to attract contractors. One of these has the overall title of Intersection Design-Build Bundle 2 which includes a roundabout at the intersection of the John Warner Parkway and Rio Road East.
“Final completion of this project is August 1st, so just a couple weeks,” Shepheard said. “These next couple weeks will be focusing on punch list items.”
That bundle also includes a roundabout now completed at Route 240 and U.S. 250 east of Crozet and one under construction at Old Lynchburg Road and 5th Street. A fourth will soon get underway at the intersection of Route 20 and Route 53.
“Utility relocations will begin later this month or in August with construction starting in September,” Shepheard said.
The next bundle consists of three projects including one that the City of Charlottesville transferred to VDOT. The city received funding for the Fontaine Avenue Streetscape in 2016 but has been unable to move forward with the project. Now VDOT is finalizing right of way acquisition for what is now referred to as the Fontaine Avenue Shared Use Path.
The other two projects are changes to the intersection of U.S. 29 and Fontaine Avenue as well as a roundabout at the intersection of Hydraulic Road and District Avenue.
Other projects in the construction phase include a shared use path on Route 29 as well as a park and ride lot at Exit 107.
Projects in the planning stages:
- The Fifth Street Trail and Hub project had been expected to go out for construction bids in May but has been delayed a couple of months due to an issue with right of way.
- A reconfiguration of the intersection of U.S. 250 and Route 20 on Pantops is still in the right of way phase and that project should be advertised for construction bids in January 2027.
- The ad date to extend Berkmar Drive north to Airport Road has been delayed to the fall of 2028 due to some right of way delays.
- The next step in the Avon Street Multimodal Improvements is a design public hearing later this fall with a current ad date of spring 2028.
Scottsville District Supervisor Mike Pruitt said he is both excited for and frustrated by the Avon Street project.
it’s just enough to be appetizing, while useless for my constituents. It extends a sidewalk into the city, but not actually to where the people live. I can only actually see maybe if someone who works at Afton Scientific lives at the Mountain View trailer park in the city.
Supervisor Fred Missel of the Samuel Miller District asked for a status update on efforts to address safety concerns at Interstate 64’s Exit 118 just to the southwest of the Fontaine interchange. While Shepheard did not have the answer on hand, the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization learned in June that the county has requested VDOT to conduct a second Project Pipeline study of the area.
Supervisor Ned Gallaway chairs the MPO Policy Board.
“There is no update and probably won’t be until that process gets underway and then they’ll be rolling out the public engagement process, et cetera,” Gallaway said. “I don’t expect anything to be happening this calendar year in terms of engagement with the community.”
And keep reading or listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement to learn more.
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