University of Virginia Library

City Approves Main Street,
University Ave. Widening

By BARBARA BROWNELL

City Council approved
widening West Main Street to
four lanes and University
Avenue to three lanes at their
Monday night meeting, ending
a five-month battle over road
expansion.

Using guidelines set by
TOPICS, a federally-funded
program for traffic
improvement, a third lane will
be added to University Ave. by
removing on-street parking,
and without widening the road.
West Main St. will be widened
to four lanes and fifth left-turn
lanes will be located at several
points.

TOPICS Program

The TOPICS program calls
for 15 per cent from the
locality, or $277,000, for the
project from the City of
Charlottesville. City Manager
Cole Hendrix said that he is
expecting a commitment from
the state highway department
by July 1, giving him the
amount that the state can
provide for the project.

At a public hearing on the
expansion proposal two weeks
ago, Corner merchants
complained that the project
did not provide enough
off-street parking areas to
replace those spaces to be
removed from the street.

An additional $75,000 was
finally set aside by the Council
to serve the Downtown end of
West Main. An additional
$200,000 was allotted for a
parking lot near the Corner.

Widen Emmet

The total cost of the
project is now estimated at
$1,850,000. This includes
$522,000 for widening Emmet
Street to four lanes from
University Ave. north to the
existing four-lane section of
the road.

Before passing the
resolution, the Council cut the
city manager's
recommendation to
"acknowledge the existing and
future need for a single
adequate major east-west
arterial street to serve the
University area, the Corner, the
West Main commercial area and
as a connecting link between
the University the city center."

"By taking extra time to
give the public an opportunity
to be heard from, we have been
able to make changes that will
allow traffic flow while
making accommodations to
individual businessmen,"
Mayor Francis Fife said.

Good Compromise

"This is a good compromise
and it's a good idea not to
widen the road in the
University area," he added.

"We have been opposed to
the widening all along,"
Council President-elect Larry
Sabato said, "but fortunately
the possibility of a four-lane
'thru-way' has been eliminated.
Now that parking spots will be
removed from the street, many
hazards will be avoided."

He said that the atmosphere
around the Corner will improve
with more traffic diverted to
Jefferson Park Avenue. "It will
be more aesthetically pleasing
and pedestrian safety will be
increased."

Mr. Sabato called the
Council's decision a "vast
improvement over the present
situation."