The City of Charlottesville this week finally accomplished an elusive goal when it awarded a contract to M&F Concrete of Manassas for the Barracks Emmet Streetscape.
“This project will improve the existing left turn lanes at the Barracks Road and Emmet Street intersection, add a new right turn lane on Emmet Street, widen existing medians to provide pedestrian refuge islands, and replace the existing traffic signal infrastructure at this intersection,” reads a portion of the project’s scope of work. “The project will replace portions of existing sidewalks within the limits of the intersection, as well as extend new 5 foot concrete sidewalk approximately 1,500 linear feet up Barracks Road to Buckingham Road.”
The award means that for the first time Charlottesville has finally moved forward with construction of a project funded by the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale process. The City of Charlottesville was awarded money for three projects in June 2016.
Of those three, only the Fontaine Avenue streetscape has gone to construction and that only happened because the Virginia Department of Transportation took over management of the project and bundled it with two other projects. Go here for more information.
The East High Streetscape project was put out to bid earlier this year after all of the right of way was acquired. However, all of the bids were over budget.
“Closing out due to budget constraints,” reads a status update on the city’s procurement portal. “The project will be revised and re-advertised.”
The third project is the Emmet Street Streetscape which is still in the right of way of phase. The city’s transportation and mobility website states construction is expected to be complete in summer of 2029. That could place its construction around the same time as construction of the University of Virginia’s Center for Performing Arts.
City Council agreed to allow staff to apply for the Barracks Emmet project that September in the second round of what would become known as Smart Scale. Since then, the project has been scaled back in scope but will now move forward.
M&F Concrete submitted a bid of $4.951 million while Sagres Construction submitted one for $6,464,999.46. The city’s website states construction is expected to be completed in Winter 2027.
The city recently updated that website but removed hyperlinks where people could get additional information.
One project in the planning works is Stribling Avenue Sidewalk which was a key consideration in the approval of a rezoning at what used to be known as 240 Stribling. That is still in the right of way phase with completion slated for Winter 2027.
The Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association sent out a message on November 3 announcing a November 17 meeting at 6:30 p.m. for the Fry’s Spring Beach Club.
“City staff will be presenting to the neighborhood the recent design modifications for the Stribling sidewalk project,” reads that email.
There is a link in that email to the project site but it has not been updated since 2024.
Previous reporting:
- Charlottesville will be reviewing how it works with VDOT, April 8, 2022
- Charlottesville officials recommend steps to “reboot” transportation project management in the city to avoid losing out on future funds, May 29, 2022
- City officially cancels West Main Streetscape project, June 10, 2022
- CTB briefed on cancellation of Charlottesville Smart Scale projects, September 22, 2022
- NDS: Extent of design work for Stribling Avenue sidewalk improvements not known, September 30, 2022
- Charlottesville infrastructure updates: Sanders seeks more time to help city build back capacity, December 6, 2022
- Charlottesville’s new transportation planner briefs Council on future process, March 21, 2023
- Charlottesville transportation planners seeking to rebuild public trust, May 16, 2024
- Transportation planning manager updates Charlottesville City Council on existing projects, May 17, 2024
- Charlottesville continues to move forward with several long-delayed transportation projects, November 16, 2024
- Commonwealth Transportation Board supports cancellation of two Charlottesville projects, formally cancels Emmet Street Phase Two, December 7, 2024
- VDOT still classifies Charlottesville as “deficient” at delivering transportation projects, December 14, 2025
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