Parkway plans pass another milestone

The Meadowcreek Parkway, the thoroughfare whose plans languished on drawing boards for four decades, has cleared yet another roadblock.

The Virginia Department of Transportation began advertising construction bids Tuesday for the county’s portion of the controversial 2-mile parkway.

“It certainly is a milestone,” said Dennis S. Rooker, a member of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. “Given the current state of things in transportation funding, the area will never see another project like this built.”

The parkway — designed to alleviate congestion on U.S. 29 by connecting East Rio Road in Albemarle with the U.S. 250 Bypass and McIntire Road in Charlottesville — has suffered many setbacks, including in June when county officials had hoped construction advertising would begin. According to a VDOT report, Albemarle’s portion of the parkway was pushed back because city officials were ironing out details on giving up city-owned property for the road, which includes land in McIntire Park.

Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris said though steady progress has been made in the last few years, it still will be years before the parkway is finished. Norris was one of two City Council members to vote against the project, in large part because of the loss of parkland.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Norris said.

Construction on the county’s section of the parkway is expected to begin in February, with the city’s portion tailing it by three months. The entire parkway is set to be finished by fall 2011 and should open for use the following spring.

Lou Hatter, a VDOT spokesman, said the county’s portion of the project is starting first because of its longer distance and greater difficulties. The agency will receive bids until Nov. 26, after which there will be a three-week review process. VDOT will advertise construction for the city’s portion of the project on Feb. 10, and the city will advertise construction for the parkway’s terminus — a diamond-shaped, above-grade interchange — in April.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board will award the construction contract during its Dec. 17 meeting. But Hatter said it is difficult to anticipate how many bids the agency may receive in the upcoming weeks.

“I don’t know if we have a feel for what sort of response we’ll have,” he said.

Rooker said the downturn in the U.S. economy might play to their advantage.

“We’re all suffering from a bad economy right now, but perhaps that may provide an opportunity to have this project come in under estimate,” he said.

Albemarle budgeted $25.4 million for its part of the project, and supervisors do not think there will be any more delays despite the state’s transportation budget situation. Officials announced Wednesday that Virginia is expecting state and federal transportation revenues to drop up to $2.6 billion during the next six years.

Referring to the parkway, board Chairman Kenneth C. Boyd said, “We understand the money is still there.”