U.S. 29 options still face hurdles

Albemarle County:

“The road to a recommendation on how to unclog Albemarle County’s main artery is paved with big bucks, political turns and stubborn unknowns. A 10-member advisory panel formed earlier this year at the directive of state Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne meets this week for a fourth and final time to discuss how to alleviate congestion on U.S. 29, a riddle that’s lingered for decades.

Looming large over the talks is the prospect of so-called grade-separated interchanges at Hydraulic and Rio roads, both part of two big-ticket concepts being considered by the advisory committee. Those ideas have splintered groups once united – local business leaders and their peers in Lynchburg and Danville, many of whom favored the 6.2-mile Western Bypass of U.S. 29, a $244.5-million project killed earlier this year by the feds.

Panel members from out of town and the Southern Environmental Law Center favor the interchanges, but area business leaders fear the impact. Colorful diagrams presented to the panel do not depict the destruction local businesses could expect to endure, said Charlottesville Area Regional Chamber of Commerce President Timothy Hulbert.”

~Writes K Burnell Evans of the Daily Progress

Click here to learn more