At risk


June 22, 2010 the Charlottesville Planning Commission added Franklin Street to the City’s sidewalk priority list. Franklin is one of twelve North South pedestrian paths across the railroad. These railroad crossings are of particular interest because they focus vehicle and pedestrian activity in a confined area.
Since June 2010 the bike/ped facilities at Meade Avenue/Carlton Road, at 1st Street SE, at Shamrock Road and at JPA have been upgraded.


Pedestrians on Franklin Street are left to their own devices.


Even though there are straightforward fixes available.

the interchange piece

few years ago
This from the summer of 2008


More recently, work has begun on the interchange part of the road through the park.


Clearing proceeds on the piece of land between Hillcrest and McIntire Road


Rock Hill gardens are on the left.

impervious cover
IC= impervious cover

cut through

e mkt cut through traffic
City neighborhood streets are used as an interchange by regional motorists. Getting from point A to point B in the County? Drive local streets through the neighborhoods (in this case Woolen Mills and Belmont), avoid collector streets and traffic signals.

Transposition, asphalt commons

yoga
1 mile section of Jefferson Park Avenue temporarily returned to the commons for use by people not in automotive exoskeletons. Yoga in the street.

biker walker

street art
there are 847 acres of road surface in CHO, a sizable canvas

nigerian dwarf
The Nigerian dwarf goat Biscuit

goatherd
Eric Geilker and Biscuit

Labrador
4 y.o. Titan Green drinks.

central place pedestrian mall
Meanwhile on the Downtown pedestrian mall, people share space with equipment responding to a kitchen fire.

whatis

water or urine?
You might ask “what is enhanced water?”

WATER, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE (TO PROTECT FLAVOR), NATURAL FLAVOR, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVES FRESHNESS), ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), SUCRALOSE, SODIUM CITRATE, POTASSIUM CITRATE, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, NIACINAMIDE (VITAMIN B3), CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (TO PROTECT FLAVOR), VITAMIN E ACETATE, CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE (VITAMIN B5), PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6)

You might ask “what is enhanced enhanced water?” I think that is what we have here…water, urea, chloride, sodium, potassium, creatinine, a.k.a. pee.

75% of the vehicles that scour through this street are folk using the Belmont and Woolen Mills neighborhoods as a short-cut. The tide of cars and trucks lowers quality of life. Some motorists eject loaded diapers or products of micturition along with their normal trash. These are the special people.

pave paradise


Which transportation projects should Albemarle County and Charlottesville begin planning for now to make it easier for people to travel around the community in the future?–Sean Tubbs.
Charlottesville Tomorrow has the story on yesterday’s local confab regarding which roads the community builds next. The idea of paving Charlottesville, using it as an intersection between Albemarle County locations seems to have a lot of support. Planners want cars to be comfortable, not to be impeded in their daily course.

meter hookup
I live in a neighborhood built before the introduction of the automobile. The last couple of days have been delightful from a traffic point of view. The water main contractor has been inconveniencing drivers as they cut-through our residential streets, reducing their speed and their number.

flagmen
Single-family residential zoning districts are established to provide and protect quiet, low-density residential areas wherein the predominant pattern of residential development is the single-family dwelling.

corner of Franklin and Market
The utility pole at this location and the stone wall on its right have been chunked down by oversized vehicles cutting the corner (see scrapes on the sign).

signs of transgression

committee design

urban planning
Picnic tables under Interstate 610. Yes, there is good shade under the bridge. But, it is mighty noisy and the automobile dust raining down doesn’t improve the taste of sandwiches. What were the planners thinking?
Maybe we can do this in Charlottesville in our park after we build a road through it, a picnic area for trolls?