Charlottesville Public Works continues design for bridge / parking for Dogwood Memorial

Building transportation infrastructure often involves trade-offs as project managers and elected officials have to work with whatever money is available.

For instance, when Charlottesville City Council approved a design in June 2008 for the interchange of the John Warner Parkway and the U.S. 250 bypass, the selected alternative included a pedestrian bridge that would cross the new two-lane road to allow people to reach the Dogwood Vietnam Memorial on the eastern side of McIntire Park. (read my story from then)

However, when it came time for the project to be constructed several years later, the bridge was not built in order to help keep costs under budget. The project opened to traffic in January 2015.

Members of the foundation that maintains and manages the Dogwood Vietnam Memorial have been asking for better access ever since. A task force report from November 2019 suggested improvements including building the pedestrian bridge connected to a parking lot on the eastern side of the John Warner Parkway.

The terms of a lease between the city and the foundation addresses the idea of the new infrastructure.

“[Dogwood Vietnam Memorial Foundation will engage with the City in good faith and take all reasonable action to allow and assist the City in the planning, construction, development, and approval of a pedestrian bridge, multi-use trail, and associated parking lot to provide improved/handicap public access to the Leased Premise,” reads Section 9.a.ii of the lease.

Former City Engineer Brennan Duncan quoted a $3.3 million construction cost in January when Council renewed their commitment to their side of the bargain. That happened through a 3-2 vote with Councilors Natalie Oschrin and Jen Fleisher both opposed to building more parking.

Council allocated $105,000 to the project during the adoption of the FY2026 budget.

Albemarle Supervisors contributed $386,004 in the FY2027 budget. That is short of the $600,000 request.

Members of the foundation have been waging a media campaign to push the city to move forward with the project. They renewed their physical presence at Council’s meeting on October 19. Tom Oakley served from April 1967 to April 1968 as a door gunner on a helicopter unit.

“We have an amazing and beautiful memorial here in Charlottesville, the first public civic memorial in the United States dedicated to honoring the military personnel who served and died in the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia,” said Tom Oakley. “The memorial is important. It’s important not just to Vietnam veterans like me, but to all the citizens of, of our city, county, Commonwealth, and country.”

Oakley said thousands of people who would like to access the memorial cannot do so because of access issues. He called upon Council to provide additional funding.

“My friend and his wife bought 2 memorial bricks to honor the guys I flew with,” Oakley said. Unfortunately, due to their ongoing disabilities, they will never be able to view the bricks.

There was no response at the meeting. In fact, there was no verbal discussion of any kind during the section of the meeting set aside for a report from City Manager Sam Sanders.

In an email to this newsletter sent late on October 19, Public Works Director Steven Hicks said work is still proceeding.

“Public Works continue to work cooperatively with the Dogwood Memorial Foundation to advance the proposed pedestrian bridge and parking area,” Hicks said. “The project is proceeding through the site plan review (90 percent process, with the understanding that the City will accept the pedestrian bridge into its infrastructure system. Construction is planned for summer 2027.”

Hicks said the cost estimate will be adjusted as the design proceeds.

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