AGENDA DATE: 8/6/2025
TITLE: Free Bridge Lane Pilot Program Summary
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Summary of the Free Bridge Lane promenade pilot program from summer 2024 to spring 2025. Request Board to Petition VDOT for discontinuance of Free Bridge Lane.
ITEM TYPE: Regular Action Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Richardson, Wall, Tevendale, Filardo, Barnes, McDermott, Swartzendruber, Karina-Plun
PRESENTER(S): Alberic Karina-Plun
LEGAL REVIEW: Yes
REVIEWED BY: Jeffrey B. Richardson
BACKGROUND: Free Bridge Lane is a low-volume, unstriped roadway that extends approximately one-half mile from Darden Towe Park to US 250. The 2019 Pantops Master Plan envisioned transitioning Free Bridge Lane from its current condition to a "Green Street" with enhanced bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and elements of stormwater management. Free Bridge Lane was prioritized in the Pantops Master Plan as a "catalyst" project.
In 2023, a feasibility study was conducted to assess creating a multiuse pedestrian trail along the western edge of Free Bridge Lane (Attachment B). Staff worked with a consultant, other county departments, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), local stakeholder groups and citizens to develop a concept for closing Free Bridge Lane to vehicular traffic and turning it into a pedestrian promenade. A pilot project to determine the desirability of closing Free Bridge Lane to vehicular traffic was instituted on November 1, 2024, and ends in October 2025. VDOT conducted traffic volume counts of Free Bridge Lane in August 2024, prior to commencing the pilot project. The study counted pedestrians, bicycles, and vehicles. A second traffic volume count was conducted in spring 2025, and the study found an increase of bicycle and pedestrian trips. With the pilot project set to end this fall, staff is seeking the Board's guidance on whether to reopen the road to vehicular traffic or pursue an option to ask VDOT to permanently discontinue the road and turn ...
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