The Charlottesville City Council began a process last week that will result in the restructuring of Jefferson Park Avenue to meet the needs of University students more effectively.
"The Council passed a resolution approving submittal for a TEA-21 enhancement grant," Council member Meredith Richards said.
According to Council member Kevin Lynch, Transportation Equity Act (TEA-21) grants are federally allocated funds designed to improve alternative methods of transportation to single passenger automobiles.
By approving a measure at their Jan. 22 meeting to apply for TEA-21 funding, Council members hoped ultimately to make the road more accommodating to pedestrians and University Transit Service buses.
"Right now we have a very dangerous mix of pedestrian, automobile and bus traffic," Richards said.
"The plan is to widen the right of way and put in a sidewalk," Lynch said.
The Council has benefited from the use of TEA-21 grants in the past. Previous projects included putting a bike lane on Rugby Road, Lynch said.
Yet Richards emphasized the grant will only pay for Phase I of the JPA project.
Approval for the project hinged on "the potential to tie it into other plans that the University" was developing, Lynch said.
One such plan is the South Lawn project. As part of the project, which includes rebuilding New Cabell Hall, the University also will assist in the redesign of JPA, said Colette Sheehy, vice president for management and budget.
"The city and the University have worked together on planning" the JPA project, Sheehy said.
The $125 million South Lawn project, which is slated to begin in 2003, will add 285,000 square feet of classroom space on either side of JPA.
Richards said that because the project is expected to substanially increase the amount of traffic, both pedestrian and automobile, safety remains the primary concern of the project.
"That precinct should be devoted to pedestrian use and safety," she added.
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