AGENDA DATE: 7/19/2023
TITLE:
Title
Route 20 Shared Use Path
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Requesting feedback regarding two design concepts for a Shared Use Path along Route 20 from Quarry Road to Route 53
ITEM TYPE: Regular Information Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Walker, Rosenberg, Herrick, Filardo, McDermott, Hersh-Ballering
PRESENTER (S): Jessica Hersh-Ballering
LEGAL REVIEW: Yes
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: Albemarle County's Southern and Western Neighborhoods Master Plan (2015) and the regional Jefferson Area Bike and Pedestrian Plan (2019) identify Route 20 as a priority bike and pedestrian connection. Currently, City of Charlottesville sidewalks do not continue south of Druid Avenue and a bike lane on the east side does not continue south of Quarry Road. Albemarle County successfully applied for Smart Scale funding to construct a roundabout at the intersection of Route 20 and Route 53; the proposed design for this roundabout includes a shared use path along the east side of Route 20.
Once the roundabout is constructed, there will be an approximately one-mile gap in bike and pedestrian infrastructure along this corridor, between Quarry Road and Route 53. Completing this gap with a shared use path would facilitate multimodal access for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities. Specifically, it would improve access to educational, cultural, recreational, and employment opportunities at Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.
Constructing a shared use path along Route 20 from Quarry Road to Route 53 is technically challenging due to free-flow on- and off-ramps for Interstate 64 on both the east and west sides of this segment, width limitations at both the I-64 underpass and the bridge over Moore's Creek, and topography that slopes towards the Cow Branch stream on the east side of Route 20. A previous feasibility study led by the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metrop...
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