U.S. 29 north of Charlottesville. Photo credit: The Hook
Lisa Provence with The Hook in Charlottesville has done some nice follow-up reporting to my inquiries into what strings the Virginia Department of Transportation is attaching to its funding of the U.S. 29 Bypass. She quotes Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton as confirming what he had told me, that he sees the project as a “test bed” for the state’s access management policies on corridors of statewide significance such as U.S. 29.
“This is all new,” Provence quotes Connaughton as saying. “We’ve never done this before. How do we put teeth into the designation?” Options include limiting curb cuts and traffic lights, better light synchronization, and parallel/service roads.
The reporter also quotes Albemarle Supervisor Ann Mallek as saying she was so focused during the Bypass debate on ensuring the funding for long-desired U.S. 29 corridor projects like the Best Buy ramp, the Hillsdale extension and the Berkmar extension that it took a while to realize that the secretary had attached conditions limiting direct commercial and residential access to U.S. 29. “We need to make sure we understand what this means and the people who supported the bypass understand what it means,” she told Provence.
Once again, Albemarle-Charlottesville Metropolitan Organization chairman and Albemarle Supervisor Rodney Thomas insisted that there was no “deal” or understanding, as I had suggested in my reporting there was. Regarding the access management restrictions, he told Provence, “I look forward to cooperating.” But he then partially backtracked by noting that he has some concerns about restricting driveways on future developments. “I don’t want to see people who own property have their rights taken away.”
It’s not clear from those statements that Thomas understands Connaughton’s expectations regarding the access controls. The secretary says he wants to get serious about limiting encroachments on the state highway because, “We want to make sure we aren’t back here again.”
Whether or not Thomas believes there was a “deal” or or an understanding regarding access management, Connaughton is talking as if there was. And he holds all the cards. He’s gotten the approval for the U.S. 29 Bypass that he sought, and he doesn’t have to release funds for the related projects unless he’s satisfied with the Charlottesville-Albemarle region’s efforts to clean up the corridor. The secretary has explained what he expects three times — once in writing and twice to reporters. It’s possible that Thomas and others just aren’t getting the message.
