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Rugby Avenue gets the green light

The four-way stop was a flop at Rugby Avenue and Rose Hill Drive, and the traffic signals have been unbagged. Photo by Skyclad Aerial

A test to make the intersection of Rugby Avenue and Rose Hill Drive safer by installing four-way stop signs concluded this week with plastic bags coming off the old stoplights and the removal of the stop signs.

When the signs went up at the end of March, neighborhood website Nextdoor was abuzz with reports of motorists sailing through the intersection, oblivious to the stop signs. Flexible upright barriers were installed to block off right-turn lanes, leading to backups of traffic coming off the U.S. 250 Bypass.

After a community meeting May 29, city traffic engineers had the test results and resident input they needed: The stop signs were a no-go.

Around 75 people showed up for the meeting, “which was wonderful,” says Tim Motsch, city transportation project manager. “They gave us information and also highlighted that this was a sore topic.”

Putting the current, 30-plus-year-old lights back into operation is a temporary step, he says. “They can’t be modified to be [Americans with Disabilities Act] activated.” An intersection overhaul with new lights, ADA-compliant curbs, ramps, and crosswalks will cost approximately $530,000, and Motsch says funding from VDOT has been identified. “It’s going to be next year before construction begins.”

Not everyone hated the stop signs. “There are people who said, ‘I like it. I can cross now,’” says Motsch. But public comment favored a pedestrian-activated signal or a smart light, with little support for the stop signs as a permanent solution.

At the community meeting, resident Zac Billmeier said, “The city was making recommendations in line with what people in the neighborhood wanted.” And he notes that tests don’t always work as anticipated.

As for the other Rugby Avenue hazard—the head-on-collision fear-inducing intersection to get on the bypass and into the YMCA—a city traffic engineer did not immediately respond to an inquiry about that.

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Four-way confusion: Stop signs at Rugby Avenue create some chaos

The four-way stop was a flop at Rugby Avenue and Rose Hill Drive, and the traffic signals have been unbagged. Photo by Skyclad Aerial

A plan to make the Rugby Avenue and Rose Hill Drive intersection safer for now has some drivers in fear for their lives.

Four-way stop signs went up at the end of March, and the traffic signal was bagged in plastic. Neighborhood website Nextdoor is full of people talking about nearly getting creamed by motorists oblivious to the stop signs.

“I was turning left onto Rose Hill and a person going straight went through the stop sign,” says Zak Billmeier. “I don’t know if there’s been an accident, but the potential is there,” he says.

There have not, in fact, been any accidents recorded, and other residents have found the stop signs an improvement. On Twitter, Mark Griffin says, “as a frequent pedestrian through that intersection, I’m glad to see everyone forced to slow down.”

Billmeier thinks the four-way stop is “probably” a good idea. But he says the problem now is people on Rugby who don’t see a red light, miss the stop signs, and “blow right through.”

The intersection currently has turn lanes at three of the four streets that meet there. “The worst case is seven cars stopped at once,” he says. “Now what? It doesn’t seem super safe.”

The new configuration is in response to citizens’ requests for pedestrian safety going back to around 2011, says Tim Motsch, city transportation project manager, and traffic has gotten worse since the YMCA was built.

Not unusual for Charlottesville, a couple of traffic studies were done.

“Both studies suggest as a first test, cover the signal and install a four-way stop,” says Motsch.

Drivers on Rugby tended to accelerate with the signal. With stop signs, they don’t. “Stop signs inherently make the intersection safer,” says Motsch.

Next up are flexible upright barriers to close the turn lanes. People on Rose Hill heading north look left before turning right onto Rugby, but don’t look right where people might be crossing the street, he says.

But already, traffic coming off the U.S. 250 Bypass is backing up at the intersection. Closing the left turn lanes on Rugby Avenue could make that problem worse. “I don’t doubt it,” says Motsch, who suggests people might want to take an alternate route, like McIntire Road. “Anytime you make it safer for pedestrians, you’re going to slow traffic.”

Depending on how the stop signs work out, the next option, says Motsch, would be to install a new signal with an ADA-compliant, pedestrian-activated signal, estimates for which have run as much as $300,000 to $400,000.

The city has gotten a number of calls and emails since the four-way stop went in, he says, and the response has been pretty evenly split. But Motsch says they’re not looking for a vote. “It’s a safety issue.”

Also in the works is a 1,500-foot, $300,000 sidewalk on the west side of Rose Hill Drive.

“In the future, they’re trying to make it so people can walk to town safely,” says Billmeier.

“I think people are open” to the four-way stop, he says. “As currently implemented, it’s created chaos.”

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Gene Washington’s lawyers want grand jury records

Capital defender Jennifer Stanton wants to check out the makeup of the grand jury that indicted Gene Washington. Staff photo

Attorneys for the man charged with the capital murders of a beloved teacher and her daughter in 2014 asked a judge for the grand jury records for the past four years in Charlottesville Circuit Court today.

The slayings of Robin Aldridge, 58, a special education teacher with Albemarle County, and 17-year-old Mani, a junior at Charlottesville High, shocked the area after neighbors reported their Rugby Avenue home ablaze December 5, 2014, and their bodies later discovered in the smoldering ruins.

Three days later, police arrested Gene Everett Washington, 31, after Robin Aldridge’s Toyota was found in the parking lot of his Barracks West apartment complex and bloody clothing, a knife and Aldridge’s new iPhone 6 was found in the dumpster there.

Washington sat in court for the brief hearing during which his capital attorneys from Norfolk sought the records. “The defense does not have to make a showing there’s been a deficit in the grand jury process,” said lawyer Jennifer Stanton.

“They need to show some reason,” argued prosecutor Libby Killeen. She cited the confidentiality that’s given to grand jurors and asked if there was a concern with the demographics of the jury that indicted Washington.

“Your sole point in getting this information is to look at the racial disparity?” asked Judge Rick Moore.

“To help determine if there’s a pattern,” replied Stanton.

Moore noted that the grand jury lists he sees generally only provide names, addresses and phone numbers. He agreed to allow the defense to see the list of jurors who indicted Washington in June 2015, and said there would be a protective order to keep the names from being shared with anyone other than Washington’s defense, which was not permitted to contact the jurors.

Five to seven jurors are called each month to serve on the grand jury from a pool of 120, and at least one is usually African-American, said Moore.

Legal expert Dave Heilberg said, “As far as makeup and selection, that’s something that can be examined. Obviously in a capital case with that much at stake, you’ve got to look at that. They could find something they could leverage.”

After the hearing, Stanton said, “In other jurisdictions, the grand jury process has been found to be hugely deficit.” And she said such a request for grand jury information was standard in a capital case.