Staff photo
Since November 2024, a narrow roadway along the banks of the Rivanna River south of Darden Towe Park has been closed to motorized vehicles in order to implement one of the county’s planning visions.
“Free Bridge Lane provides a unique opportunity to further enhance the River corridor while improving upon the bicycle/pedestrian connectivity in the area,” reads a section of the Pantops Master Plan adopted by Albemarle County supervisors in June 2019.
The conversion of the roadway into a “green street” is one of a dozen catalyst projects intended to be built within the first eight years of the plan. The plan originally called for the road to remain open to traffic in one direction southbound from Darden Towe Park.
However, when Albemarle followed through with a feasibility study four years later, the consultant, LPDA, presented an additional option that would convert the project to a car-free promenade. Supervisors agreed in March 2023 to proceed with a one-year pilot to test the idea, and the closure began in late fall of 2024.
Free Bridge Lane is a public road and the initial closure to vehicles was done with the blessing of the Virginia Department of Transportation. That agency conducted a traffic study before the closure and again in the spring of 2025.
“The study found an increase in bicycle and pedestrian trips,” reads a staff report for a resolution on the Board of Supervisors’ April 15 agenda to ask the Commonwealth Transportation Board to discontinue the road.
“The CTB may discontinue a roadway if it determines that the roadway no longer serves the public convenience, warranting its maintenance at public expense, and it divests VDOT from maintenance responsibilities,” the staff report continues.
If the CTB agrees, the space would remain public and Albemarle County would take over responsibility for maintaining the promenade as an extension of Darden Towe Park. Supervisors would still have to adopt an ordinance formally closing the roadway to vehicles.
As part of the pilot, Albemarle County built a parking lot at the northern end of the space that can hold about a dozen vehicles. A smaller pull-off at the southern end only has room for two or three vehicles.
The promenade offers an opportunity for the county and others to offer educational experiences such as a StoryWalk, sponsored by Sentara, which matches passersby with a children’s book. A coalition of environmental groups has posted a placard with information about the Rivanna Forest Restoration Partnership.
There are other catalyst projects in the Pantops Master Plan that are related, like the opening of future parks along the Rivanna River and a pedestrian crossing of the waterway.
A site in Woolen Mills has been selected for that bridge, but advancement has been slow due to a $42.5 million cost estimate. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission has applied three times for federal grants to help lower the cost but failed to make the cut each time. Officials have agreed to try a fourth time.
The closure of Free Bridge Lane began in late fall of 2024.
