Browsing Category Transportation

Housing Costs & and Affordability – Where Does Charlottesville Rank?

The newer website also allows users to break all of the data down into owners costs and renters costs, different income classes, greenhouse gas emissions, and a variety of other factors.

…EIA forecasts that the annual average regular grade retail gasoline price will increase from $2.35 per gallon in 2009 to $2.84 in 2010 and to $2.96 in 2011 because of the projected rising crude oil prices. … Projected annual average retail diesel fuel prices are $2.96 and $3.14 per gallon, respectively, in 2010 and 2011.

Related reading from RealCentralVA.com over the years : 2006 – Gas prices and real estate 2008 – Proof that Gas Prices are Affecting Homebuyers in Charlottesville 2008 – If you don’t think gas prices are affecting buyers

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More Bike Lanes in Charlottesville?

Council commits additional funds to build more bike lanes In February, Neighborhood Development Services Director Jim Tolbert told Council that there are very few opportunities to create additional bike lanes in Charlottesville without removing on-street parking or widening roads. … Tolbert said he would be bringing a proposal to Council this summer that would address the possibility of removing on-street parking and widening roads to increase the network of bike lanes. … The current year’s capital budget set aside that amount for “bicycle infrastructure” and the money was used in part to develop special signals to allow cyclists to trigger traffic lights. … DOT Secretary Ray LaHood stood on top of a table to address the National Bicycle Summit last week, but he waited until a few days later to reveal on his blog a new federal approach in transportation priorities:

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Maybe the City Should Just say No to the Meadowcreek Parkway

Meadowcreek Parkway Staging Area in Albemarle County, along Rio Road Rather than drag this out any further , maybe the City of Charlottesville should just end the discussion and say they’re not going to support/build/move forward with their part of the Parkway. Just stand up for what you believe in and say no. (and pay VDOT back) It’s only been 43 years since they started talking about it . … Related reading: – The most comprehensive source for Meadowcreek Parkway information – Charlottesville Tomorrow – What if the Meadowcreek Parkway didn’t exist? (travel patterns and settlement patterns have changed in the past 40 years) – Heck, I’ve been writing about it since 2005 . (ignore the Daily Progress dead link) – Meadowcreek Parkway study by the Free Enterprise Forum * Photo courtesy of

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Please Buy my Client’s Car – They Don’t Need it Anymore

Which is awesome, and very green. 🙂 is living and working downtown, so no need for a second car – someone buy it! http://bit.ly/8DhpH6       That they’re living in the City and are able (and willing – that’s part of it, too!) … Incidentally, the current issue of National Association of Realtors’ On Common Ground (not yet online) is all about walkability, transit, smart ( read: intelligent, not the bastardized/politicized “smart” ) growth featuring Walkscore and a few quotes from yours truly.

…Search for homes in Crozet with high Walkscores . (coincidentally, I house I’m marketing comes up first … and the Walkscore is in reality much higher due to some missing restaurants and coffee shops in Crozet)

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DP and Charlottesville Tomorrow begin Four-Part Series on Traffic and Growth

Part One started yesterday in the Daily Progress . The difficulty in balancing growth pressures and a decline in transportation infrastructure spending is growing more acute, but there is little movement toward solutions. How would you solve the transit/traffic/transportation issues the Charlottesville/Albemarle region is facing?

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CharlAlbemarle Transit Authority – What’s Next?

The fate of a proposed Regional Transit Authority (RTA) could depend on who is selected in January to represent the City Council and the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors on two regional transportation bodies.

…Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed a bill authorizing Charlottesville and Albemarle to create a transit authority , but a companion bill that may have provided a funding source for enhanced service did not make it out of committee. That legislation would have authorized a referendum in which city and country residents would have voted on a sales tax increase to pay the RTA’s operating and capital costs.

… The Charlottesville/Albemarle region needs some form of transit that helps alleviate the traffic and congestion that, while not as bad as other areas (Northern Virginia/LA/etc) – is bad by Charlottesville standards – and frankly, those are the standards that matter to me.

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