Fixer uppers
In Charlottesville and Albemarle County, 33.3 and 9.7 percent of our bridges, respectively, are structurally deficient, according to information published by the Washington Post. That’s higher than the national average of 9.4 percent and, hopefully, a priority for the president of the United States who campaigned on a trillion dollar infrastructure plan. According to city spokesperson Miriam Dickler, “The sufficiency rating is often misunderstood and, therefore, misrepresented. Sufficiency ratings are not solely indicative of the structural condition of the bridge. It is a prioritization tool to allocate funds and considers various factors such as structural adequacy, serviceability, daily traffic, etc.”
Say what?
Structurally deficient: due to at least one defect that requires attention.
Functionally obsolete: cannot handle the required traffic needs.
BY THE NUMBERS
City bridges: 21
– 7 structurally deficient
– 2 functionally obsolete
– 12 good
The worst:
1. 14.8 percent sufficient: Dairy Road Bridge (work scheduled to commence this summer)
2. 32.1 percent sufficient: Beta Bridge
3. 40 percent sufficient: Belmont Bridge (scheduled for replacement in 2019)
4. 49 percent sufficient: Route 250 crossing Norfolk Southern Railway
5. 52.8 percent sufficient: Route 250 crossing Rugby Avenue
County bridges: 259
– 25 structurally deficient
– 49 functionally obsolete
– 185 good
The worst:*
1. 13.2 percent sufficient: Dick Woods Road crossing Ivy Creek (replacement completed June 2015)
2. 13.5 percent sufficient: Plunkett Road crossing Lynch River
3. 16.2 percent sufficient: Black Cat Road crossing Buckingham Branch Railroad (replacement completed October 2015)
4. 16.2 percent sufficient: Broomley Road crossing Buckingham Branch Railroad (replacement completed December 2015)
5. 18.8 percent sufficient: Arrowhead Valley crossing Norfolk Southern Railway
*This article was updated at 12:04pm March 6 to include replacement dates of three bridges no longer deemed structurally deficient.
IN BRIEF
Election Watch 2017
John Lowry announced a run for the Board of Supervisors seat now held by Liz Palmer in the Samuel Miller District. Dems Ross Mittiga and Kellen Squire say they’ll challenge House of Delegates incumbents David Toscano and Rob Bell, respectively. And Charlottesville City School Board member Amy Laufer announced her candidacy for City Council.
Husband kills wife, then himself
Charlottesville police responded to a call of a shooting in the 1700 block of Monticello Road on February 26 around 7pm. Upon arrival, they found two victims, Whitney Leigh French, 33, and her husband, Rafal Konrad Kalemba, 37, dead with gunshot wounds. Police are classifying French’s death as a domestic related homicide, and Kalemba’s death a suicide. French was a senior product designer at WillowTree Inc., whose CEO, Tobias Dengel, issued a statement saying French “embodied everything that is great in this world.”
Citizen summons
Indivisible Charlottesville held a town hall February 26 sans Congressman Tom Garrett, who, despite his citizen summons, was in Germany. Garrett has scheduled a town hall in Charlottesville for 7pm March 13. The location is to be determined.
Strong rematch
UVA men’s basketball team held the UNC Tar Heels to just 43 points Monday night at JPJ—the fewest points UNC has scored since the shot clock was instituted in 1979. The Cavs’ 10-point win is in stark contrast to the 65-41 smackdown UNC handed them 10 days earlier.
RICHMOND RUNDOWN
The General Assembly ended its short session February 24, and here’s Governor Terry McAuliffe’s take on some of the items that landed on his desk.
Signed
ν Four bills to combat the opioid epidemic, including one that will allow needle exchanges and free HIV and Hep C testing in the hardest hit parts of the state.
Vetoed
ν Legislation that would have defunded Planned Parenthood.
ν Fishing expedition that would require local election officials to investigate Virginia voters without a clear standard for doing so.
ν A House bill that would require the Department of Social Services to publish a list identifying each refugee settled in the commonwealth.
Dedicated
ν A newly renovated Capitol Square building was renamed February 23 in honor of Prince Edward student Barbara Johns, who led a walkout of her subpar, all-black high school in 1951, precipitating Brown v. Board of Education.
The General Assembly approved a bill allowing free HIV and Hepatitis C testing.
Quote of the week
“
Virginia is more than capable of handling its own marijuana policy…”—U.S. Representative Tom Garrett, 5th District, in a release about a bipartisan bill aimed at federally decriminalizing marijuana