Patience has become a necessary virtue for residents of Fifeville’s Fifth and Dice streets concerned about traffic safety. They have yet to see tangible progress while the city concludes a new traffic assessment.
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Fifeville residents are awaiting the results of a traffic assessment, but they are still concerned about traffic safety. Stephanie Gist of Fifth Street has watched narrowly avoided accidents from her window. She raised the issue, but she hasn’t noticed anything different since September. “We had electronic traffic counting strips in the neighborhood for about a week,” she says. “No word from anyone what they’re for.” |
In September, C-VILLE reported on the hazards for cars and pedestrians trying to traverse the narrow, crowded roads. Stephanie Gist of Fifth Street had watched minor and narrowly avoided accidents from her window, including a girl almost struck on her way to a school bus. Yet aside from seeing a letter to the editor, Gist hasn’t seen much since September that shows anyone cares. “We had electronic traffic counting strips in the neighborhood for about a week,” she says. “No word from anyone what they’re for.”
Meanwhile, the traffic hazards persist. At the end of October, Gist watched two cars unable to pass each other on Dice Street. One car backed up the entire block to turn around in the middle of Fifth Street, which could have created massive gridlock at rush hour. She also saw at least five fire trucks responding to a call behind Main Street struggle to cope with the dog-legged intersection of Dice and Fifth streets. “I know the problem must have come on their radar then,” she says of the city.
The width problem has been on the city’s radar, especially since City Council approved Southern Development’s plan for a mixed commercial and residential complex on the corner of Cherry Avenue and Ridge Street The site is diagonally across the block from Gist’s house and could add 50 housing units plus an underground parking garage, which could significantly affect traffic. Hence, the city decided to study Fifeville’s current traffic before making any changes, which explains the counting strips Gist witnessed—and her waiting.
That traffic study, according to city’s Director of Communications Ric Barrick, is wrapping up. A consultant who helped collect data is preparing to present preliminary results and recommendations to the city. After that, Barrick says, the city will meet with the neighborhood to solicit input on the ideas. That meeting is currently scheduled for the second week in December.
Charlottesville Police Department’s Crime Analyst Kristin O’Connell adds that the police also have information on traffic safety for the area. However, several other large projects prevented her from being able to organize the data in time to respond to C-VILLE’s request. She could not say if the traffic woes of Fifth and Dice or Fifeville as a whole were statistically any worse than other parts of the city.
Nonetheless, Gist knows what she and her neighbors would say at a neighborhood meeting: “It’s vital the excessive speeds traveled by the cars be addressed. Also a vital factor is the extremely narrow width of the two streets, Fifth and Dice.” Yet she won’t hold her breath. “I’m still disillusioned that there is only notice being paid to our problem now that there is the new development. Addressing this issue is a condition of the development. We citizens on our own, and our complaints, didn’t warrant change.”
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