The sun’s out, it’s past noon, and the Downtown Mall swells with pedestrians. A grey Acura Integra sits at Fourth Street, blocked by the ebb and flow of humanity. A man clutches the wheel with both hands. He looks for an opening. And waits. Lurching across the Mall, it takes him almost half a minute to reach the other side. It’s not the easiest way through Downtown, and it isn’t supposed to be.
 A majority of vehicle-drivers like the Fourth Street crossing while a majority of pedestrians dislike it—and foot traffic is down from last year. Council is deciding whether to keep the crossing now that a one-year trial is over. |
After opening the Fourth Street crossing last May, City Council must now decide whether to keep it open. Its one-year trial is up, and on June 18, Council heard the results of a pedestrian survey conducted by Neighborhood and Development Services: Out of 532 people surveyed, 369 want to keep the crossing. Almost as many, 359, say they don’t see any safety issues, though the survey, which cost the city $17,300, also showed a combined 28-percent drop in pedestrian traffic at both crossings. But if businesses around the intersection of Fourth and E. Main are any indication, support for the crossing won’t be a problem.
“For the good of Downtown, they should probably keep it,” says Sandy McAdams, the owner of Daedalus Bookshop. “It does make it easier to get around Downtown.”
John Plantz at Timberland Drugs agrees: “I think people like it. The good points outweigh the bad. We need a cut-through here.”
While Council allowed southbound traffic to cross the Mall, one block away it made Fourth Street a northbound one-way between Garrett and Water streets, discouraging its use as a city thoroughfare.
Last year’s City Council decision revolved around access to the Mall for the larger Charlottesville community. Not everyone was buying that: Kevin Lynch, the lone vote against the crossing, argued that Council approved the crossing simply to pacify complaints from area businesses.
Both McAdams and Plantz say they haven’t noticed any changes in business in the year the crossing has been there. Back at Daedalus, tucked away in what feels like a book-made cavern, McAdams says, “Nobody knows I’m here anyway.”
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