The Virginia Senate yesterday passed a bill to create a Route 29 western bypass around Charlottesville.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Stephen D. Newman, R-Lynchburg, faces strong opposition locally within the City and Albemarle County.
"The bill from Lynchburg demands that [the Virginia Department of Transportation] construct as soon as possible the [Route] 29 bypass despite what we feel locally," City Council member Blake Caravati said. "I am against this bill because it tells us what to do."
Otherwise, the Council has voted in the past to keep the bypass in the City's transportation plan, Caravati said.
County planners, however, are opposed to the bypass construction.
"The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has been officially opposed to the western bypass for at least a dozen years," Board member Sally Thomas said. "The reasons were originally largely environmental because the proposed bypass goes by drinking water reservoirs."
Legislators in other parts of the state emphasized that the addition of a Route 29 bypass has effects far beyond the Charlottesville area.
"None of us are isolated from the effects of the road system," Sen. Charles R. Hawkins, R-Chatham, said. "If you look at the north-south connector, Route 29 is the central artery and we need a better flow of traffic."
The City serves as a traffic obstruction between Northern Virginia and the southern part of the state. Stop lights and multiple traffic lanes along with local congestion impede traffic through the City, Hawkins said.
The bypass would alleviate inter-city traffic, too, according to Hawkins.
"When you do anything to relieve traffic pressure in an area, you improve everything: the quality of life, air and safety," Hawkins said.
Nevertheless, local planners are skeptical about the ability of the bypass to truly solve traffic issues in and around the City.
"The bypass does not solve local traffic problems," Thomas said. "VDOT's own studies show that the bypass would only solve through traffic problems and only shorten the trip around Charlottesville by two minutes. Therefore, the bypass seems a questionable use of such a large amount of money."
Plans for a Route 29 bypass around the City have been discussed since 1987. The proposed bypass would branch off the main route north of the City limits and rejoin the original route outside of developed areas, Hawkins said.
Although VDOT already has purchased the land and rights of way for the project, actual construction still may be a long way off.
The cost of construction is estimated to be $250 million and will come from state and federal sources, Caravati said. However, the bypass faces funding issues.
"VDOT doesn't have the money," Caravati said.
Hawkins warned that if City traffic issues are not dealt with soon, the problem will only worsen.
"If we don't relieve the traffic in Charlottesville, in 10 years we will have absolute gridlock," Hawkins said.
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