Population growth and the impact of a more congested community is not limited to one political jurisdiction. But how well is this place set up to build transportation infrastructure that straddles borders between Albemarle, Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia?
A recent letter from the Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association asked the City of Charlottesville to find a way to contribute to a sidewalk project Albemarle County has preliminary plans to build on Old Lynchburg Road.
“The FSNA recommends city participation because it would add a sidewalk, connect a portion of the Rivanna Trail, and would provide access to new city-owned parkland on the other side of Moores Creek,” reads the February 13 letter to City Council. “It would be easy to view this sidewalk as a facility mostly for County residents, but this is wrong.”
City staff met with members of the FSNA last week to discuss the project, which is one of many potential projects Charlottesville Public Works could be working on in a city with many residents clamoring for projects. There’s no list that community members can look at online for the most up-to-date information.
However, the project is No. 26 on Albemarle’s detailed list of transportation priorities, according to an update from October 2022.
“This project would construct a shared-use path and multiple crosswalks along Old Lynchburg Road between Timberland Park Apartments and Azalea Park to improve pedestrian safety and mobility,” reads the list, which also states this project could be a collaborative project with the City of Charlottesville.
That collaboration is taking place.
This project dates back to Albemarle’s budget for FY20 when $6 million was programmed into the capital improvement program for “quality of life” by building sidewalks and bike lanes. The pandemic delayed the project and the decision was made to put that money toward projects that can attract further funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation.
According to Albemarle County spokeswoman Abbey Stumpf, Albemarle paid $72,280 for an engineering study with detailed drawings that have been reviewed by both the Virginia Department of Transportation and the city engineer.
“The results of the study were shared with Charlottesville leadership for consideration of a potential cost sharing arrangement,” Stumpf said. “There have been several discussions, but no commitments yet as both agencies work through the FY24 Budget development process.”
The FSNA sent a letter and set up last week’s meeting to get answers into a process that can be mysterious to citizens and elected officials. City trail planner Chris Gensic was there to talk about the city’s recent acquisitions of parkland in Albemarle. City Councilor Brian Pinkston also attended to get information.
“Parents who were there told how dangerous it is to have kids crossing the road from Azalea West to the main part of Azalea Park, so having a crosswalk would make a huge difference,” Pinkston said.
But Pinkston said the city has a lot of different priorities to sift through as it rebuilds after an era where none of those projects were ranked. A relatively new deputy city manager is on the case.
“The intrepid Sam Sanders is trying to figure out how to make the project plan work,” Pinkston said.
The Albemarle and Charlottesville planning commissions have not met since January 2017, but there’s talk another meeting may take place this year. A public body that had been set up to discuss regional growth was disbanded in late 2019. At its last meeting, the Land Use and Environmental Planning Committee did discuss major transportation issues, but these were about larger projects such as the forthcoming changes to Hydraulic Road and U.S. 29.