Foes of the Charlottesville Bypass have produced a video detailing six spot improvements that would not only speed travel for drivers passing through town but for the thousands of drivers who use the road for local trips.
“The bypass only offers minimal time savings to drivers passing through the area, and it offers even fewer benefits for local drivers, who make up the vast majority of traffic on 29,” said Butler Morgan Butler, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), in a prepared statement. “The bypass won’t provide the new connections to work, schools, and stores along the 29 corridor we so desperately need. We should be pursuing solutions that make the corridor work for those passing through the area and local drivers alike.”
The improvements, which bear strong similarities to proposals included in the Places29 study, include:
- Improving the interchange with the 250 Bypass near Best Buy;
- Building overpasses at Hydraulic Road and Rio Road intersections to allow through-traffic on 29 to flow without stopping;
- Extending parallel roads on Hillsdale Drive and Berkmar Drive to give local drivers alternatives to U.S. 29.
- Widening U.S. 29 north of the Rivanna River to eliminate the bottleneck there.
The video, produced by the SELC and the Piedmont Environmental Council, does not say how much the six improvements would cost. But one estimate dating back several years put the cost around $197 million — somewhat less expensive than the Bypass.
VDOT has not conducted a traffic study of the Bypass in its current configuration but the Charlottesville-Albemarle Transportation Coalition (CATCO) has estimated that it would have served between 6,470 to 10,600 vehicles per day had it been opened in 2010 and that traffic would increase to 8,800 and 14,400 per day by 2022. By contrast, the six improvements highlighted in the video would benefit everyone using U.S. 29, exceeding 40,000 drivers in certain spots, as well as thousands more who use Hydraulic and Rio roads.
The Bypass has an exceedingly high cost per mile — nearly $40 million — because it must acquire substantial right of way and build over rough terrain. Bacon’s Rebellion estimates that the highway would shave two minutes, 40 seconds, on average off a trip during rush hour. SELC/PEC provided no estimate of how much time per trip its proposed improvements would save, but they would eliminate the major bottlenecks that exist today.
The video is effective, so effective that I have but one question. Why didn’t they think of this long ago? It’s late in the game to be pushing a Bypass alternative, but perhaps not too late. The Federal Highway Administration still must complete its Environmental Impact Statement review before construction can begin. Perhaps the existence of plausible alternatives will affect FHWA’s conclusions.
— JAB
