The Meadowcreek Parkway was fresh on the minds of the Ablemarle County Board of Supervisors at their October 4 meeting. The $65 million roadway project originally wasn’t the top priority in the 2006 Primary Road Improvement Priorities report. “We’ll be listing Meadowcreek Parkway first there,” said David Benish, the County’s chief of planning, noticing the gaffe. “We accidentally put it in the wrong order.”
The priorities list, approved at the October 5 meeting, identifies and ranks the roadways for which the County is requesting funding from the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB). The much-debated parkway, a joint City-County effort, is the County’s most important project, with funding still actively being sought. After decades of discussion, the project was approved by the CTB in 2001 as a two-mile, low-speed parkway extending from Rio Road to the 250 Bypass. In the report, the County requests “the CTB make every effort of provide adequate funding and resources to maintain the current construction schedule for this project.” Board Chairman Dennis Rooker has previously said that $9.7 million is still lacking, and will need to be provided before the project can begin, as scheduled, in June 2008.
The 2006 Primary Road Improvement Priorities are the same ones approved by the board last October. They also include a focus on roadway work to Hillsdale Drive extension, Berkmar Drive extension and Route 29 (for a third lane on Route 29 northbound and southbound from the South Fork of the Rivanna River to its intersection with Hollymead Drive).
On October 25, the Commonwealth Transportation Board will hold a public meeting, taking into account the priorities submitted by each locality, in order to set the priorities list for the 2008-2013 Virginia Department of Transportation six-year improvement plan. Board members David Slutzky and Rooker will attend.—Burke Speaker
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