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.
2 thoughts on “At risk”
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Six years ago staff recommended the following to City Council regarding Franklin Street:
May 21, 2007- “It is recommended that Franklin Street from Market Street to the Self Storage be piloted one-way southbound and the change reassessed after a one year period.”
Staff further noted:
“If pilot is successful, allows for a potential future sidewalk for pedestrian safety within existing right of way.”
Been working on trying to solve this for a long long time. While the traffic calming measures (humps) on E Market have slowed the vehicles down somewhat, our residential street still has well over a 70% cut-through rate. That’s significant. Many of those vehicles are either commercial (big trucks and such), or commuters from as far away as Fluvanna and Greene. As the population and density of Cville and surrounding counties increases, so will the traffic numbers, noise, and the pollution. Some call that progress.
In the meantime, kids and grownups attempt to navigate Franklin St on their way to and from the pool. Abutting neighbors listen to squealing tires and honking day and night. Isn’t it time this was addressed? The city manager can one-way a street in a heartbeat without forcing the citizens to appeal to Council, but that won’t happen in this instance. As we’ve done for years already, we’re willing to jump through whatever hoops are necessary to get a solid solution that creates a positive change for our neighborhood.