AGENDA DATE: 2/21/2024
TITLE:
Title
Fontaine Interchange Improvements
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Request feedback regarding potential changes to funded Smart Scale project at the Fontaine interchange
ITEM TYPE: Regular Information Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Wall, Filardo, McDermott, Hersh-Ballering
PRESENTER (S): Hersh-Ballering
LEGAL REVIEW: Not Required
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: In Round 4 of Smart Scale, the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization (CA-MPO) submitted an application for improvements to the US 29 and Fontaine Interchange that were estimated to cost just over $12 million. Specifically, the project would replace the existing unsignalized diamond interchange with a partially displaced left-turn.
The new interchange would allow closure of the current left-turn movement from northbound US 29 (across southbound US 29) to westbound I-64 through the addition of a free-flow U-turn for northbound traffic exiting US 29 at Fontaine to return south along 29 and use the existing I-64 westbound on-ramp. The project would also remove the left turn movement from eastbound Fontaine onto US 29 northbound, requiring a U-turn movement (with a loon, which is pavement outside of the normal traffic lanes that allow for larger vehicles to safely make a U-turn on a divided roadway) immediately west of the Fontaine/Ray C Hunt intersection to access the northbound 29 ramp. A shared-use path is proposed through the segment. See Attachment A for project design sketch.
This project was intended to be more cost-effective than a Round 3 Smart Scale application that proposed replacing the existing diamond interchange with a diverging diamond, which was not successful. The Round 4 application was successful.
Recently, stakeholders have expressed concern that the proposed partially displaced left turn interchange does not meet the long-term needs of the rapidly developing area. Since then, Albemarle Cou...
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