Council approves bridge

By Rachana Dixit

Published: September 2, 2008

Charlottesville’s City Council and several city residents reached a compromise Tuesday concerning the size and design of the Jefferson Park Avenue bridge – not 78 feet wide, not 60, but 67.

“This is better than what we saw initially,” Mayor Dave Norris said, referring to the design proposal.

Councilors unanimously approved the new bridge design proposed by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

The Jefferson Park Avenue bridge was built in 1932 and crosses the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks in the city’s Fry’s Spring neighborhood. Though officials say the bridge does not pose an imminent danger to its users, the bridge has a federal sufficiency rating of two out of 100, which evaluates not just safety but how well the bridge serves its community.

Jeanette Janiczek, Charlottesville’s VDOT program manager, said the degenerating bridge was first identified as deficient in 1980. In the 1990s, it was added to the state transportation department’s Six-Year Improvement Plan, and as of this year the full amount of funding for the project has become available.

Janiczek said the bridge’s design attempts to line the bridge up with the existing road and the size must accommodate the various types of traffic.

“The bridge has to remain as wide as it can,” she said.

The original replacement plan called for a new 78-foot-wide bridge, at a cost of $5.66 million. Under that proposal, construction would have begun in late summer with its completion slated for spring 2010. Pedestrians and bicyclists would still be able to cross the bridge during construction.

City staff, through work with the Virginia Department of Transportation, determined that the width could be reduced to 67 feet. The condensed bridge still includes the originally proposed two sections of sidewalk, two bike lanes and two vehicle lanes – along with federally mandated transition areas based on nationally recognized safety standards. The bike lanes and sidewalks each measure 5 feet wide, and the proposed traffic lanes are 12 feet wide.

The transportation department has also incorporated other design suggestions, such as replacing a series of switchback ramps to Todd Avenue with a new stair-and-curved-ramp pedestrian connection, and shifting the location of the Todd Avenue vehicle turnaround closer to the bridge.

Work on the bridge is expected to begin in 2010, with completion scheduled for 2011.

City staff is also researching a location for a temporary pedestrian bridge that is 10 feet wide.

Peter Hedlund, president of the Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association, said to councilors that the neighborhood was still hoping for a 60-foot-wide bridge, which had been previously discussed. Before that size, neighbors proposed a 54-foot-wide bridge, and in April 2007 the City Council instructed VDOT to come as close as possible to meeting that goal.

“We want to make sure this reflects the residential nature of our neighborhood,” Hedlund said Tuesday.

But councilors agreed that the new design is much better than what was initially proposed, and a 60-foot bridge may not be possible given the width of each element.

“It seems to me that maybe reality has an effect on this ideal 60 feet,” Councilor Satyendra Huja said.

Hedlund’s prevailing concern, however, was that the ailing bridge be repaired sooner rather than later, since previous design reworking has already delayed the project for multiple months.

“We hope this crumbling neighborhood bridge is replaced as quickly as possible,” he said.

The City Council also heard an update on efforts to implement a water resources protection program. The committee responsible for the effort is now expected to meet again to finalize its report on how to implement such a program.