More on the burgeoning bike accessibility in Charlottesville via C-Ville.

I’d love to think that we are close to being able to easily bike everywhere around Charlottesville and Albemarle’s urban ring, but these two paragraphs from Chiara Canzi’s article say a lot:

“This commuter trail will extend from Lewis and Clark Drive in Northern Albemarle County into the City of Charlottesville’s Downtown,” running parallel to Route 29 North, according to the project’s report. That’s 14.1 miles of dedicated, non-stop bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

“This facility will provide a viable alternative travel mode for communities along the Route 29 North corridor, particularly Downtown and the Hollymead commercial area,” it reads. Yet, upon a closer look at the plan, Northtown Trail is connected to and contingent upon the completion of some major, and controversial, transportation projects. They include the Meadow Creek Parkway (MCP), Berkmar Drive Extended, the Belvedere development, North Pointe and the Places29 Master Plan. Most of the projects are currently unfunded.

Our region is pretty good at planning. Doing is much more of a challenge. Much of the planning in this area never makes it past the “on paper” stage.

I’m still looking for buyer clients who want to look at houses while riding bicycles. The time will come …