The Ringo to our McCartney, Danville City Council may soon offer Charlottesville a very simple message: Don’t pass me by.
On January 4, Danville City Council will vote on a recommendation to include Charlottesville’s contested Western and Eastern Bypass options in the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s (CTB) Route 29 Corridor study, according to GoDanRiver.com. Lynchburg City Council passed a similar resolution in November.
VDOT’s initial Route 29 Corridor Study included two bypass options around portions of Charlottesville that would send traffic east, through two historic districts, or west, along an extended Leonard Sandridge Road. The Leonard Sandridge Road extension—not a bad band name, really—would use land purchased for the $270 million Western Bypass project, currently inactive.
Both options were ultimately removed from VDOT’s study. However, the Commonwealth Transportation Board appointed a group to conduct further Route 29 studies.
"Our chamber’s No. 1 priority is a bypass around Charlottesville," Laurie Moran, president of the Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce, told C-VILLE in 2008.