City should return cash or build bypass

Peter D. Avellone Nelson County
Published: October 28, 2008

Lynchburg and Danville are absolutely right. The Charlottesville MPO needs to return the $50 million in taxpayer money it’s held for the past 18 years, or build the bypass.

I was a long-term traveler between Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, N.C. I traveled through Amherst County, Madison Heights and the downtowns of Lynchburg and Danville before and after their bypasses were built.

These jurisdictions sacrificed their citizens’ property and businesses to build their bypasses, which made U.S. 29 a safer, more scenic and fuel-efficient highway in place of forcing weary travelers through unfamiliar downtowns, stoplights and construction detours. It also made their industries more attractive to heavy transportation. That’s something that we all need.

Charlottesville is the only remaining chokepoint on U.S. 29 in the state, outside of Northern Virginia, and doesn’t have as much to lose as Danville or Lynchburg did.

It’s ridiculous that a traveler has to wade through four lanes of southbound traffic to squeeze onto a one-lane ramp at the 250 bypass. Charlottesville isn’t the only city on U.S. 29. It just comes off like it is.