Connector cost may near $169 million

By Rachana Dixit

Published: October 1, 2008

Cost estimates for the proposed Eastern Connector range from $40 million to $169 million depending on the size of the road and its location, according to the consultant overseeing an alignment study.

The estimates, provided to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Wednesday, made officials increasingly hesitant to go forward with the project without collecting more specific traffic data and evaluating the possible effects of a more robust transit system on the project.

Officials said they would refrain from making a decision on the project for two or three years but would discuss the project with the Metropolitan Planning Organization to garner input from Charlottesville officials.

“I’m not sure it’s entirely fruitful to go ahead and endorse this,” said David L. Slutzky, an Albemarle supervisor.

Building the Eastern Connector, a road designed to ease traffic on U.S. 250 by linking northern Albemarle residents to the developing Pantops area, was a condition for the Charlottesville City Council’s approval of the 2-mile Meadowcreek Parkway.

The least expensive Eastern Connector project would be to build a two-lane road through the south side of Pen Park, which is parkland owned by Charlottesville. Construction of a four-lane road on the north side of Pen Park bumps the cost to $169 million.

“The chance of getting the money to do it in our lifetime is not that great,” said Albemarle Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker.

In 2006, city and county officials fronted $500,000 to conduct the location and design study. But the committee’s recommendations on the most feasible way to build the road were delayed for months while more specific cost estimates were compiled for the various options — each one wrought with its own problems.

The committee, comprised of city and county officials, recommended going through Pen Park to connect Rio Road with Route 20 as the best option because it would divert the most daily traffic from U.S. 250 — 10.4 percent with a two-lane road in Pen Park and 16.3 percent with a four-lane road by 2025.

The other options would connect either Proffit Road or Polo Grounds Road to Route 20.

Because of increased development and the abundance of historical spots in the area, Lewis Grimm, a consultant with PBS&J, said, “There aren’t a whole lot of empty spaces in the study area that we’re dealing with.”

Officials do not doubt that the road is needed to ease congestion on the bypass. In 2006, 52,000 cars per day traveled between High Street and Route 20 — up from 30,000 in 2001. Grimm said river crossing volumes are expected to increase by 47 percent from 2005 to 2025.

“Clearly we have a choke point in traffic here,” Slutzky said.

Albemarle Supervisor Sally H. Thomas added, “We don’t want to be the one who puts the Eastern Connector idea away.”

City officials will also hear the report, but a specific date has not been set.