Meadowcreek Parkway Opening (for bicyclists and pedestrians)

From Charlottesville Tomorrow (no longer available):

In other news, Huja announced that VDOT has agreed to open up the county’s portion of the parkway to cyclists and pedestrians by the end of July. Another agreement between the city, county and VDOT prevents the road from opening to vehicular traffic until the interchange and both road sections are all completed.

Beautiful. I might try riding my bike to the Belvedere neighborhood from Downtown Charlottesville … but I’m not looking forward to the hill on Rio just past Melbourne.

Update: I talked with Lou Hatter with VDOT for clarification on the timeline and to ask why they couldn’t open it now. He responded very quickly:

Although the recreational trail appears to be finished there is one segment of the trail where the top layer of asphalt still needs to be applied. Even after that final asphalt work is done, the trail is part of the larger Meadowcreek Parkway project, which is still under construction. Due to liability concerns VDOT will not open the trail to public use until the entire project is completed and accepted by VDOT. The contractor is ahead of schedule and at this time it appears construction is likely to be finished by the end of July.

.

Update 11 July 2011: 

Just kidding.

“A multi-use trail built alongside Albemarle County’s portion of the Meadow Creek Parkway will not open at the end of this month as previously announced.”