The four-decade debate on the Meadowcreek Parkway has a new image: Interchange Alternative C1, which could also be known as The Rotund Roundabout. After a two-day meeting last week, a steering committee endorsed the single roundabout option from a handful of alternatives. It’s estimated to cost at least $30.8 million and would disturb at least seven acres of existing road and surrounding land.
A steering committee voiced approval of an updated version of this option, Alternative C1, for the future intersection of the Meadowcreek Parkway (if it gets built) and Route 250. Committee members were attracted to its possibilities as a gateway into the city. It still needs an environmental assessment and City Council approval.  This option, Alternative G1, is considered another reasonable alternative. |
The Meadowcreek Parkway is an idea long kicked around Charlottesville. It would extend McIntire Road north through McIntire Park and connect with Rio Road. But some critics contend that the two-mile stretch of road would clog the city with traffic just trying to get from one side of the county to the other, essentially creating a bypass through the heart of Charlottesville. Others decry the loss of parkland to pavement.
To do its job and alleviate traffic, the parkway needs a split grade intersection with Route 250, one that would take 250 over McIntire Road. Senator John Warner earmarked $25 million in 2005 to help make that happen, and the Virginia Department of Transportation now has the project in the hands of Baltimore-based RK&K Consultants and a City Council-appointed steering committee.
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At their May 2 and 3 meeting, the steering committee heard from three peer reviewers, who listed issues that needed to be weighed, from the effects to McIntire Park to the need for a gateway into the city.
“This isn’t just a traffic project—this is a civic infrastructure project,” said Kathy Poole, one of the peer reviewers. After the peer reviewers voiced support for the Rotund Roundabout, the steering committee members also said they liked it, particularly as a unique city entrance. Plans for a simple diamond interchange (Alternative G1) are also still on the table (see the interchange ideas at www.250interchange.org).
“The notion that I came away with was this was a manipulated opportunity to move forward without the consultants taking the lead in making a recommendation,” said Peter Kleeman, a citizen who’s been following the parkway for years. “The only thing I can rationalize in my head is this is a way to take the heat off of the city and the consultants to say, ‘We went outside, we got some professional advice, they gave us recommendations,’ whether it was appropriate to recommend or not. So I was disappointed, to say the least.”
There are still more hoops to jump through. Those include a public info session and a meeting on the environmental-impact assessment before the steering committee will make their formal recommendation to City Council, possibly by the fall.
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