Charlottesville City Council has a report scheduled on its June 15, 2009 agenda entitled: "Schedule of Future Council Actions for Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road, McIntire Road Extended, and Meadow Creek Parkway." Again, this report suggests that the road project connecting Route 250 Bypass at McIntire Road to Rio Road is three independent projects rather than one project. The report provides some of the benefits and and impacts of each of these projects on traffic flow, environment, etc., but is by no means a comprehensive report.
The graphic showing the project does not include the interchange, but shows McIntire Road Extended connecting at an at-grade intersection at Route 250 Bypass. This is a design that was rejected by council, yet appears to be one of the options under consideration. Also, no investigation to my knowledge has been done on the costs of constructing an interchange at McIntire Road and Route 250 Bypass without the McIntire Road Extended being constructed. This option is also not among the set of alternatives in the planning process.
The Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park has questioned the legality of the Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road and the McIntire Road Extended project being planned as independent projects. Their contention is that the federally funded interchange project must include the McIntire Road Extended project to be in compliance with federal requirements on having logical termini and not segmenting projects into elements that do not have independent utility. City Council instructed the City Attorney to investigate this legal question, but to date no legal opinion has been reported back to council.
I encourage you to share your thoughts on this continuing obfuscation of the facts surrounding the city council's options relating to meeting our regional transportation needs in a manner consistent with the city council vision of a sustainable community. Below is a copy of the city staff report that has been posted on the
city council agenda for June 15, 2009 (agenda with background) as item number 5.
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CITY OF CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA
Agenda Date: June 15, 2009
Action Required: No
Staff Contacts: Jeanette Janiczek, UCI Program Manager (NDS); Angela Tucker, Development Services Manager (NDS)
Presenter: Jeanette Janiczek, UCI Program Manager (NDS)
Title: Project Updates - Meadow Creek Parkway, McIntire Road Extended, and the Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road
Background: Three local roadway projects are now underway and at various stages of project development as follows:
Meadow Creek Parkway. This project is being administered by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) on behalf of Albemarle County. Construction started in January 2009 and is scheduled for completion by October 2011. Since this is a new alignment, current traffic remains largely unchanged by the construction activity. When this can not be avoided, the VDOT issues advance public notifications announcing new traffic patterns. This roadway project’s construction is being coordinated with the McIntire Road Extended project and Route 250 Bypass Interchange project at McIntire Road. In the spirit of multi-jurisdictional cooperation, all three projects are being planned to be opened to the public at the same time with one temporary exception due to constructability. A three week temporary detour using the newly built roadway of Meadow Creek Parkway is required to allow for construction of the portion of roadway near CATEC and Dunlora. Other options were considered by the VDOT such as using a gravel maintained section of temporary pavement which closely circles the area to be detoured or detouring traffic along alternate routes. These options were eliminated due to safety issues and the possibility of an unacceptable amount of traffic likely detouring informally through city neighborhoods.
McIntire Road Extended. This project is being administered by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) on behalf of the City of Charlottesville. The current advertisement date for this project is September 2009. VDOT will continue to reassess this schedule according to progress made on the Section 106 Process on Historic Preservation. This federal process was triggered when it was discovered that an Army Corps of Engineers permit was required in a newly recognized historic resource, McIntire Park. It has been determined that there will be an adverse effect upon McIntire Park and possible mitigation has been discussed. A draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) will soon be circulated by the Army Corps of Engineers for agency and consulting party review and comment. Once the VDOT and the Virginia Department of Historical Resources (VDHR) have signed the MOA, VDOT can solicit bids for construction of the road.
Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road. This project is being administered by the City of Charlottesville under the Urban Construction Initiative program. The project is currently in the preliminary engineering stage with an estimated construction start date of Summer 2010. The project team is focused on completing the 30% design plans – the next critical path milestone – and updating the Environmental Assessment (EA) in preparation of a Design Public Hearing tentatively scheduled for as early as August 2009. In July and prior to this public hearing, staff will be meeting with residents and other interested stakeholders in the Birdwood/Hillcrest neighborhood to resolve access issues. (City Council will be directly advised of the date when this neighborhood meeting is scheduled.) Concurrently, the team is also administering a Section 106 Process on Historic Preservation for this federal project that is being led by the Federal Highway Administration. It has been determined that there will be an adverse effect upon two historic resources: McIntire Park and the Rock Hill Landscape (owned by MACAA). Possible mitigation has been discussed and a draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is currently circulating for agency and consulting party review and comment.
Discussion: The following are future action items needing City Council approval:
Meadow Creek Parkway• While this is a County project, one parcel of land belonging to the School Board is being used for its construction. A lawsuit challenging the City’s transfer of this parcel to the VDOT for roadway construction has been filed and argued. At the time of this writing, the Court has not issued a decision in the case.
McIntire Road Extended• Prior to the advertisement of this project, a decision must be made concerning a utility line currently owned by the Rivanna Water Sewer Authority (RWSA) through McIntire Park. This line, which is part of the Schenk’s Branch Interceptor, will need to be relocated within the park due to roadway construction. City Council will be asked to either (1) grant an easement to RWSA at the line’s new location, with RWSA retaining ownership of the relocated line or (2) to accept ownership of the sewer line, which will make the City responsible for the future maintenance, repair and replacement of the line.
Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road• Once the MOA has been negotiated and finalized, it must be approved by all signatories (City, FHWA, VDOT, VDHR & Advisory Council on Historic Preservation). Since the City is administering this project, it is responsible for ensuring the MOA is enforced and all mitigation completed. Therefore, the City is an agency signatory and City Council will be requested to authorize signature on the document.
• After the Design Public Hearing, the transcript and all comments collected during the formal comment period to follow will be submitted to Council for review and approval of the major design features of the project. This approval (via Council resolution) is a required step in project development in order to obtain VDOT and FHWA authorization to proceed to Phase II Final design and the right of way phase of the project.
• The Interchange is being designed to minimize impacts within the Park and the surrounding area. However, some right of way will need to be acquired. The first step will be to have the properties appraised, and to make fair market offers based on those appraisals. If the properties cannot be acquired by voluntary agreement with the respective landowners, it may eventually require Council to condemn private properties impacted by the project. Right of way impacts will be shown at the Design Public Hearing.
Budgetary Impact:Meadow Creek Parkway – $31,909,000 - $23,569,000 in Secondary funds and $8,340,000 in Revenue Sharing approved in current 6-Year Program.
McIntire Road Extended - $9,771,000 in Urban funds approved in current 6-Year Program.
Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road - $31,532,000 - $29,532,000 in earmarked SAFETEA-LU and $2,000,000 in Revenue Sharing approved in current 6-Year Program.
Alternatives: The City may elect to eliminate both/either City projects: McIntire Road Extended and/or the Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road. While there are positive consequences to not completing both/either project – retaining integrity of historic park thus lessening environmental impact – the following are technical, negative consequences to be considered.
#1 - No McIntire Road Extended project:• Must repay all state funds expended to date on project ($3.3 million), unless reimbursement is waived by the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB)
• Meadow Creek Parkway will connect to Melbourne Road, increasing traffic through City neighborhoods
• Will not receive 49.1 acres of replacement park land
• Possibility that agreed upon design conditions with County are not upheld:
- City control of signal at Melbourne Road and Meadow Creek Parkway
- Limited Access Condition
- Number of Lanes
• No bike lanes or multi-use path N/S through park
• Existing Park Street interchange at 250 Bypass degrades sooner
and No Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road project:• Must return federal earmark and repay all state and federal funds expended beyond the design public hearing for the Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road project (~ $27 million)
• Identified safety problem remains – at-grade intersection currently has 3x statewide accident rate for similar roadways
• No grade-separated access to McIntire Park
#2 - Completion of the McIntire Road Extended project but no Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road project:• Must return federal earmark and repay all state and federal funds expended beyond the design public hearing for the Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road project (~ $27 million)
• Intersection level of service degrades to F with peak hour delays of over 3 minutes per vehicle. This is without the signals being timed for at-grade pedestrian access to and from the park, much like the configuration today.
• The increased size of the at-grade intersection and the increase in traffic would not be very pedestrian friendly.
• 2030 traffic volumes likely to use neighborhood streets for relief;
- Daily traffic volume using Route 250 east of McIntire Road is forecasted to increase by 28%
- On McIntire Road south of Route 250, the daily traffic volume is expected to increase by 49%
- Daily traffic volume using Park Street is forecasted to grow 43% north of Route 250 and 60% south of Route 250
• Access to the Birdwood Road/Hillcrest Road neighborhood becomes more challenging and less safe
#3 - Completion of the Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road project but no McIntire Road Extended project:• Must repay all state funds expended to date on McIntire Road Extended project ($3.3 million), unless reimbursement is waived by the CTB
• Meadow Creek Parkway will connect to Melbourne Road, increasing traffic through City neighborhoods
• Will not receive 49.1 acres of replacement park land
• Possibility that agreed upon design conditions with County are not upheld:
- City control of signal at Melbourne Road and Meadow Creek Parkway
- Limited Access Condition
- Number of Lanes
• No bike lanes or multi-use path N/S through park
Attachments (2):a) Rendering of McIntire Road Extended and Meadow Creek Parkway, and
b) Preferred Alternative G1 of the Route 250 Bypass Interchange at McIntire Road
Recommendation: None
Below is Alternative G1 graphic:
Circuit Court Judge Jay Swett sent his decision in Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park et a. vs. City of Charlottesville, et al. regarding transfer of temporary and permanent easements over city owned land to VDOT for construction of the Meadow Creek Parkway project in Albemarle County. You can see all of the relevant material in this case (Case number CL09000-84) at the Charlottesville Circuit Court. I produced a digital copy of the cover letter and the opinion for ease in distribution and comment. I corrected a few obvious typographical errors in the text and formatted the material as a web readable file. I plan to provide additional links within this copy of the material to reference other useful material refered to in the text.
