In a proffer statement dated May 16, the owner is offering 15 percent of the units for affordable housing, in addition to a dedication of greenway trail space and a bike and pedestrian tunnel underneath Eastern Avenue.
Eastern Avenue – This is a second major north-south Master Plan road that will connect Rt. 240 and Rt. 250 generally from the area around Western Ridge and the Conagra plant to an area near Cory Farms. An alignment study of Eastern Avenue and design of the Lickinghole Creek Bridge, a major feature of Eastern Avenue, are being programmed in the County’s Capital Improvements Program (CIP). The road itself is expected to be built as part of private development, while the bridge is anticipated to be a future CIP project. The County has begun preliminary discussions with developers who control the property to determine an effective alignment of the road
“We’ve worked hard for the past 10 years, so it would be great to finally take some steps,” says Ann Mallek, chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors and representative of the White Hall District, which includes Crozet, where two connector road projects are in the works.
One would connect Route 240 to Route 250 through Park Ridge Drive and the Cory Farm subdivision.
The proposed Eastern Avenue Connector, which runs north-south, still has two major portions that need to be constructed, says Kevin McDermott, transportation planner for Albemarle County.
Looks like I won’t be able to get much use out of these photoshopped signs.
A fire along Old Three Notch’d Road caused a rush hour roadblock February 1 on one of Crozet’s main thoroughfares: Three Notch’d Road, aka Route 240. Instead of being able to drive to downtown Crozet, drivers had to make a U-turn, return to U.S. 250 and make a right, then another right onto Crozet Avenue/Route 240, only to be part of a massive backup at the light and four-way stop near the railway trestle at Crozet Square.
High-density growth area Crozet surely has the homes, but roadways have lagged behind. Will 2018 be the year several road projects begin in earnest?
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“We’ve worked hard for the past 10 years, so it would be great to finally take some steps,” says Ann Mallek, chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors and representative of the White Hall District, which includes Crozet, where two connector road projects are in the works.
One would connect Route 240 to Route 250 through Park Ridge Drive and the Cory Farm subdivision.
The proposed Eastern Avenue Connector, which runs north-south, still has two major portions that need to be constructed, says Kevin McDermott, transportation planner for Albemarle County.
The northern piece may break ground soon. “The private developers of the Foothills-Daly development are responsible for making a connection onto Park Ridge Drive and onto Route 240,” McDermott says, and they have submitted all of the required applications.
To the south, a bridge that is needed to cross Lickinghole Creek to complete the connector road “is the sticking point and has been for many years,” says David Stoner, a member of the Crozet Community Advisory Committee. “It’s such an expensive proposition that it hasn’t risen to the top of the county’s list of projects to be funded.”
The southern-portion work is No. 12 on the county’s priority list of road projects, McDermott explains. “Because other priorities are already under way, No. 12 will be a priority in the next year,” he says.
Cities and states stand to lose billions in funding for projects that are already moving toward construction. Nationally, more than 70 projects are waiting for funding from the New Starts program, and only about a dozen have been approved.
It’s fun riding the Crozet Trails with someone new to Crozet, as I did this morning. Even more fun when I discover something new … the pull up thing at the back of Claudius Crozet Park, near the Crozet Dog Park.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again … the more trails connections the better – for the community, environment, and property values. And … thanks, Crozet Trails Crew!
The demand is seemingly there for the Crozet Express (bus service between Crozet & Charlottesville), but there’s no where to park?
Thank you to all those who completed the survey. In a nutshell, the delay in implementing JAUNT’s Crozet commuter route is due to planning a safe and convenient park and ride location in your community. We’re looking forward to giving Crozetians a smooth, carefree journey to work as soon as those details can be worked out with Albemarle County, VDOT, and other parties.
Parking is a problem for Crozet, and one that will have to get addressed at some point.
I wonder what percentage of users would be able to/open to riding bikes to park and ride.
Albemarle supervisors were briefed on several transportation projects Wednesday, including the news that a roundabout will be coming to the intersection of U.S. 250 and Route 240, east of Crozet and near the Mechums River bridge and railroad trestle.
“It did not get funded through the SmartScale process,” said Joel DeNunzio, administrator of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Charlottesville residency. “But we got an opportunity to re-do the [Highway Safety Improvement Funding application], and it looks like, as of today, we have been notified we have the funding.”
DeNunzio said the planning work can get underway in the next fiscal year.
To improve safety, the Virginia Department of Transportation is installing a temporary signal at the intersection of Route 250 (Rockfish Gap Turnpike) and Route 151 (Critzers Shop Road) in Afton, near the Nelson County line.
An advance warning flasher on Route 250 eastbound, which has a steep downgrade, will accompany the signal to alert motorists when the signal ahead is yellow or red.
Beginning this week through late April, motorists should stay alert for intermittent lane closures controlled by flagging.
A more extensive project is in development to convert the intersection to a roundabout. The safety improvement project will address a history of turning-related crashes at the high-volume intersection. Route 250 carries 6,700 vehicles per day and Route 151 carries 10,000 with about seven percent truck traffic daily on both routes. Pending funding approval, preliminary engineering on the project will begin in 2018.
But y’all knew that if you followed RealCrozetVA on Instagram. 🙂
I’ll wait for the news reports to come in before formulating my own opinion, but the tweets from Neil Williamson, of the Free Enterprise Forum, from today were interesting.
Short question – would you be willing to pay more taxes to fund infrastructure improvements in Crozet? Such as the Lickinghole Creek bridge/connector from Westhall to 250?
Say … $100/year?*
(Illustration: For a house assessed at $350,000, an increase of 2.8 cents on the tax rate would equate to an annual increase of $98.00; a 1.6 cent increase on the tax rate would equate to an annual increase of $56.00. )
Services districts are a tool that have been authorized for decades
The general purpose of a service district is to provide additional, more complete or more timely services of government than are desired for the locality or localities as a whole
Service districts are geographic areas composed of less than all of the County’s territory, and whose boundaries are established by the Board of Supervisors
The Board may levy and collect an annual tax on real property within the service district to pay for the facilities authorized to be provided in the district
