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CD+A is the urban design and land use planning consultant teamed with Meyer Mohaddes Associates, the prime transportation consultant. This is the second phase of this project for the Charlottesville region’s MPO, the TJPDC. The core project area is delineated by a triangle of heavily traveled roads: US 29, the 250 Bypass, and Hydraulic Road, a 4-lane arterial street used as a shortcut between the two highways. The objective is to further develop and evaluate multimodal transportation and land use alternatives to address congestion on US 29, to improve the pedestrian and bicycle environment, support existing uses, and encourage private reinvestment.
A charrette process facilitated interaction between the consultants and the client’s Local Team (TJPDC staff, City and County staff, and staff from all tiers of Virginia Department of Transportation). The process included several public open houses and meetings with individual developers and public officials. Three design options were developed using different approaches to regional circulation. The Team designed alternative intersection and roadway configurations, including at-grade intersections, a single point urban interchange (SPUI), elevated roadway segments, underpasses, and multi-way boulevard cross sections.
CD+A designed prototypical street sections, new roadway network options, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and transit-related design concepts. These improvements aim to reduce local traffic on regional roads and improve multi-modal access. CD+A also designed development scenarios for initial- and long-term change illustrating the economic, transportation, and quality of life differences between continued suburban and mixed-use and walkable growth options.
The analysis of the three design concepts considered a broad range of impacts and benefits, including: multi-modal transportation benefits, construction cost and phasing, fiscal and private economic impacts, and urban design and sustainability factors. The recommended concept converts Hydraulic Road into a “main street” supporting mixed-use redevelopment of adjacent properties, reconfiguration of several interchanges and roadway cross sections, and, in the long-term, the construction of a SPUI with special treatments for pedestrians and bicyclists at US 29 and Hydraulic. CD+A and MMA will soon begin the project’s Phase which expands the study area 15 miles to the north.
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