Hillsdale Drive Extension

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Hillsdale Drive Extension
Hillsdale.jpg
A rendering of the proposed Hillsdale Drive Extended

Planned

Project Overview

Relieve congestion on Route 29 and the Route 29/Hydraulic Road intersection
Cost $30,549,000
Sponsor Charlottesville
Next meeting Fall 2009 Design Public Hearing[1]

Status Update

The Daily Progress reported on December 20, 2008 that funding for the Hillsdale project would not be made available until at least FY2015, as the project is now outside of VDOT's Six-Year Improvement Program.
Location study completed and FONSI approved it April 2006.[1]

Website Project Website
VDOT Dashboard VDOT Dashboard Entry
Contact Jeanette Janiczek, VDOT Program Manager, Charlottesville

Map

Project details

The Hillsdale Drive Extension is a planned roadway that will provide a parallel road to US 29 to give drivers another choice to travel north-south from Albemarle County's urban section to the City of Charlottesville.

The project is proposed to cost over $30 million and is being overseen by the City of Charlottesville's Neighborhood Development Services Department as part of the Urban Construction Initiative. The project manager is Jeanette Janiczek.

It will connect a section of Greenbrier Road to Hydraulic Road. The southern terminus of the road is being designed as part of the proposed Whole Foods project on Hydraulic Road.[2]

The stated purpose of the project is to relieve congestion on Route 29 and the Route 29 / Hydraulic Road intersection.

The Charlottesville City Council passed a resolution on March 7, 2007 approving Alignment "C"[citation needed], and the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors followed with a similar resolution on April 6, 2005[citation needed]. The project was then approved by the Commonwealth Transportation Board[citation needed]. These approvals came after a corridor location study which evaluated four possibilities.

A location public hearing was held at the Senior Center on November 4, 2004. A design public hearing is tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2009[3]. However, that time has since passed and a meeting has yet to be scheduled.

However, the future of the road's alignment is in question due to the recent announcement by Regal Cinemas that they plan to upgrade and expand the Seminole 4 movie theater.[4]

The engineering firm of McCormick Taylor, Inc, has been hired by the City to lead the project. They are in charge of design, environmental assessments, right-of-way negotiations, and construction management.


Development history

On November 18, 2007, The Steering Committee held its fourth meeting. Negotiations are ongoing as to how the road will "thread the needle" between the U.S. Post Office and the Pepsi bottling plant. [5]. According to the MPO, design is underway. However, sufficient state and federal funding is not expected for the Hillsdale Drive project until 2015 at the earliest.

Regal Entertainment Group announced plans in May 2009 to build a major upgrade to its Regal Cinema 4 theater behind the K-Mart shopping center. Plans include expansion into the parking lot to add five additional screens, new stadium seating & digital projection equipment. However, the existing theater had been expected to be demolished, at least in part, to make way for the $30.5 million Hillsdale Drive Extension project connecting Hydraulic Road through the Seminole Square Shopping Center to Hillsdale Drive.[6]

Next Public Meeting

A design public hearing is planned for fall of 2009.[1]

Hillsdale Drive Safety Improvements

Albemarle County is administering a separate project to add pedestrian crossings to sections of existing Hillsdale Drive in the County. The first phase of that project is expected to be completed in 2009, but has been delayed multiple times. These improvements were called for by the Senior Center and its members[7].

External links

Hillsdale Drive Project

Google Map of Hillsdale Drive Extension

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 MPO Area Transportation Project Status Matrix. 16 June 2009.
  2. Tubbs, Sean J. "Commission wants “holistic approach” to new Whole Foods store." Weblog post. Charlottesville Tomorrow News Center. Charlottesville Tomorrow, 14 Mar. 2008. Web. 2 July 2009. <http://cvilletomorrow.typepad.com/charlottesville_tomorrow_/2008/03/whole_foods.html>.
  3. Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization. Area Transportation Projects Project Status Matrix. Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, 16 June 2009. Web. 2 July 2009. <http://www.tjpdc.org/agendas_and_minutes/mpoTech/09_06_23/June09_Project%20Tracking.pdf>.
  4. Wheeler, Brian A. "Regal Cinema to be upgraded in path of proposed Hillsdale Drive extension." Weblog post. Charlottesville Tomorrow News Center. Charlottesville Tomorrow, 1 May 2009. Web. 2 July 2009. <http://cvilletomorrow.typepad.com/charlottesville_tomorrow_/2009/05/regal_hillsdale.html>.
  5. Wheeler, Bran A. "Hillsdale Drive runs into post office concerns and a second movie theater." Weblog post. Charlottesville Tomorrow News Center. Charlottesville Tomorrow, 13 Nov. 2007. Web. 5 July 2009. <http://www.cvilletomorrow.org/>.
  6. Wheeler, Brian A. "Regal Cinema to be upgraded in path of proposed Hillsdale Drive extension." Charlottesville Tomorrow News Center. 1 May 2009. 7 May 2009 <http://cvilletomorrow.typepad.com/charlottesville_tomorrow_/2009/05/regal_hillsdale.html>.
  7. Senior Center website