Wednesday, at 2:30pm, the Park Street Bridge will reopen, WINA reports. The bridge was shut down for repairs late in the summer, right on the heels of the Locust Avenue bridge shutdown for similar repairs. The closings resulted in significant inconveniences, with a number of complaints coming from residents of neighborhoods through which traffic was rerouted. Remember, folks: it’s not cool to use Park Street as a thru street to Route 29. That’s what the 250 Bypass is for.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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I use Park Street as the way to get downtown from 29 whenever possible (bridge permitting).
I’d be crazy not to, all the lights from Rio to Hydraulic make it slow even when there is no traffic.
I don’t mind Best Buy moving in, at least it was built in the urban core. However they should put the new malls, if any, along the interstate and 250 where the combination of the two will let traffic move.
Until (if) the MeadowCreek is built, Park St is *the* bypass.
Oops. I thought it was already open. It was quite usable this afternoon, but most people were still routing through North Ave. up Calhoun to Locust… and I figured the word just hadn’t gotten out yet.
Remember, folks: it’s not cool to use Park Street as a thru street to Route 29. That’s what the 250 Bypass is for.
If 250 were as convenient, or less than twice the amount of time it takes me to use Rio, then I would be more cool. As it is, I do the best with what I’m given. Two routes to get north of C’ville is inadequate.
Remember, folks: it’s not cool to use Park Street as a thru street to Route 29. That’s what the 250 Bypass is for.
You can’t be serious.
Why shouldn’t we use it? Because some people don’t like having a street in front of their house? Why do they live in the center of a city then? Those houses have increased in value by an order of magnitude over the last decade. If they don’t like it they can cash out their million bucks and move somplace else.
Whaaaaa! whaaaaa! people are driving on my street! I’m a whineybitch! Whaaaaaaaaa!
Remember, folks: it’s not cool to use Park Street as a thru street to Route 29. That’s what the 250 Bypass is for.
Actually, and I could be mistaken here, but since it’s officially and unofficially referred to as the “250 Bypass,” doesn’t that mean its intent is to help East-West travellers bypass town without having to take “Business 250,” which is Main Street?
So wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that it isn’t cool to use Main Street as a thru street from Pantops to Farmington, as that’s what the 250 Bypass is for?
As far as I know, there is no North-South bypass in Charlottesville.
No, there is no north/south bypass, and we are the laughing stock of the state because of it. Most people know of charlottesville only because they have driven down 29 and had to stop at our 5000 stoplights.
Remember, folks: it’s not cool to use Park Street as a thru street to Route 29. That’s what the 250 Bypass is for.
Um, no, that’s what the Meadowcreek Parkway is for. People who don’t want Park Street used as a thru street should demand that the parkway be built.
According to you, Waldo, traffic congestion like there is on Park Street is a good thing, remember? Drives down that latent demand.
shhhhhhhhhhh, don’t tell the people who complain about traffic on 29. They feel it is because of all the growth in this area is the ONLY cause for more on 29.
"it’s not cool to use Park Street as a thru street to Route 29. "
Yeah, and always put your left shoe on first .
"That’s what the 250 Bypass is for"
Says who?
The city tried to say we couldn’t drive though city neigborhoods but had to go up 29North. Excuse me but isn’t that why they are called PUBLIC roads. I can take any shortcut I want, as long as all laws are obeyed. My taxes, mostly from gas taxes, pay for the building and upkeep of most roads.
This reminds me of the bicyclist who scream about how the roads are theirs as well. Please tell me how a person on a bike pays for the roads. It’s the people who drive cars who pay for roads. I not saying that bicyclist don’t deserve to be on the roads just that they will never pay for the roads they ride on.
Yeah, and always put your left shoe on first .
And do you put on a shoe and a sock? or both socks and then the shoes? (TV trivia moment)
If only bicycles were on the road, they would never need repaving. For instance, the Blue Ridge Pkwy and Skyline Drive have been repaved only once since they were built in the 1930’s. Why?
1. No large trucks. That’s the main reason.
2. Always closed when frozen. Never treated or scraped.
3. Very well built, with excellent foundations.
If you woul like to rebuild all city streets along these lines, and while you’re at it, separate the storm sewers form the sanitary sewers, then I agree, yes, we should issue bonds and pay all the builders involved high salaries and full health benfits including dental, eyewear and mental services. All we need to do is cancel a few military contracts (or wars) to pay for thre whole damn thing.
Gas taxes do not pay for MOST of the building and upkeep of roads. If that was the case, we’d either have a very shoddy road system or very high gas taxes. Roads are paid for mostly from property, income & sales taxes. Most cyclists own property (including a vehicle or two), have a job and are subject to sales taxes. As such, I’d say that, in general, cyclists are paying for the roads they ride on just as much as the next guy. In fact, if you take into account the wear and tear that a vehicle imposes on the road vs. the wear and tear imposed by a bicycle, I’d say the cyclists come out ahead in the long run.
Yes we have very high gas taxes. Actually federal and state gas monies pay for a great number, not all, road projects. I f you look where money comes from in the local budgets, state money went for roads.
For example of the 800K+ for the bridges just repaired downtown, half the money came from insurance, 7k from the city, and the rest from the state.
No, cyclist are not paying just as much as the next guy/gal. Wear and tear is not a major consideration since if roads were for bikes they would be very narrow .You also forget about the truck traffic and all the money their traffic generates.
"Please tell me how a person on a bike pays for the roads."
The answer is pretty simple–in fact, you acknowledge as much in our other posting on this thread. Gas taxes are not the ONLY monies used to pay for roads and road improvements. Gas taxes may provide the majority of that money (and I say may, because I don’t know if in fact that’s where the majority of that money comes from), but they don’t provide ALL of it. So if some of the money is coming out of general taxpayer dollars, then some of the money is coming from the cyclist. That is how a person on a bike pays for part of the roads, just as you in your car pay for part of the roads. Maybe you pay more–but that doesn’t mean that the cyclist pays nothing.
Here’s another point, genius–many cyclists DO have cars and do buy gas and therefore do pay taxes on gas. They just happen to cycle sometimes.
All in the Family, argument between Archie and Meathead.
Yes but they pay for most of the roads because of their cars not because of their bikes and that is the point. To repeat cyclist don’t pay much for roads motorist do. I thought that was obvious enough not to mention but I was wrong.
Could you please point me to the information that the Parkways were only repaved once. I find you premise highly unlikely but would be eager to learn this info.
This whole line of discussion is stupid. If there were only bicyclists, then we would need only a fraction of the road infrastructures we have, with less costly premium land to pave them, less parking requirements, more pleasant and therefore valuable environment, less wars, less pollution and its incalculable consequences (and costs).
Cars, motorcycles, trucks, etc. all of us own the roads. Everyone should respect others’ presence on the road. Simple.
I find it interesting that every morning since its official opening, between about 8:30 and 9:00 traffic is backed up from the light at North Avenue back up into the curvy section of Rio.
That can’t be a good thing.
I can’t say what traffic is like around 5:00, as I take an alternate route home.
Of course you’re free to use Park Street / Rio to get up to 29 North. I simply deem it uncool. And, hey, if you don’t want to be cool, that’s your business. But all the cool kids are gonna be jumping off the bridge.
Back to studying for exams. Just six more days ’til I’m done…
Yes we have very high gas taxes.
No. We don’t. We have one of the lowest gas taxes in the world. Sweden has a number of taxes on their gasoline, just one of which is for the purpose of repairing the carbon dioxide damage caused by emissions. That tax alone is $1.50/gallon.
Out of a desperate desire to avoid resuming reviewing Joseph Nye’s “The Paradox of American Power” again to write this freaking paper, I’ve looked into the source of Virginia road funding and confirmed that you are, in fact, speaking from your rectum. (Eeewww.)
37.8% ($1.38B) of VDOT’s funding comes from state sources. Of that $1.38B, 51.2% comes from the gas tax, 25% comes from the motor vehicles sale and usage tax, and 15.5% comes from licenses. So, the state gas tax provides $718.9M of the $3,656M state transportation budget.
So, there’s a whole mess of things wrong with your assertion.
So, no, what you have said is not true in any regard. But I give you a B for effort.
Not true in any regard, please you’re better than that. I never assumed that cyclist don’t own cars just that activity of biking pays no tax. Is that really so hard a concept to grasp?
From an earlier post I said "Actually federal and state gas monies pay for a great number, not all, road projects". You are only talking about VDOT please include FEDERAL funds as well. Where does the federal money come from?17.5 cents per gallon state tax and 18.4 cents per gallon federal. So if gas is $1.35 a gallon that means 25% of the price is taxes, I consider that a high tax in the US when you compare it with sales tax. So if we get back what we put in that is now 1.38 billion from just fuel tax (state and fed)since the federal gas tax rate is higher than the state. Some years we get alot of federal dollars, other years not so much.
Bicyclist-from their use of their bikes on a road pay no taxes, other than sales tax when the bike is bought and some tiny licence fee. A person can be a millionaire, a motorist , and ride a bike. The part that rides a bike pays next to nothing for roads. I will grant you that a motorist that rides a bike does pay for roads, that point is never in doubt but reading that point from earlier post would have denied you the fun of saying I am talking out my rectum.
Of state funding half is from the gas tax and the remainder come from MOTORIST not cyclist, your facts say that. You have forgotten the federal because it didn’t make your point.Federal dollars pay for big portion of interstates, buses, bike lanes like those on rugby road.. Excuse me that I didn’t differ all the gas tax paid from motorist taxes and fees. That would have made a better point.
The major point, which is still true, motorist pay for roads. Why is that so hard for you to understand?
I give you a B for your effort though it came very close to an incomplete but you did show your work.
Both
http://www.archivesva.com/
and http://www.nps.gov
are down right now, but I assure you the parkways are seldom paved. I recall it as "once" and it was in the late 1980’s or 90’s. I also talked with a state road engineer about it.
I found it surprising too.
I repeat:
This whole line of discussion is stupid. If there were only bicyclists, then we would need only a fraction of the road infrastructures we have, with less costly premium land to pave them, less parking requirements, more pleasant and therefore valuable environment, less wars, less pollution and its incalculable consequences (and costs).
Cars, motorcycles, trucks, etc. all of us own the roads. Everyone should respect others’ presence on the road. Simple.
In very basic terms, it’s not pertinent to even discuss that the big users of roads – and the reason they’re built to the extent they are – is because cars and trucks require them. Bikes don’t need them as much. Is this hard to grasp? Or do you want to continue your silly sophistry? MOTORIZED VEHICLES PAY FOR ROADS BECAUSE THEY USE THEM MOST. EASY TO UNDERSTAND, NO?