February 16, 2008

The local group Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation, ACCT, is specifically targeting Rio Road, in the area by Birkmar Drive. There is not a crosswalk for two miles and it's a dark stretch of road, making it difficult to find places to cross.

"Large stretches of roads in the county have absolutely no pedestrian infrastructures," said Leonard Schoppa of ACCT.

In the last year, five people have been hit while crossing Rio Road, one was killed. This past Thursday night, a woman and teenage boy were hospitalized, that teen is still in critical condition.

Now, ACCT wants Albemarle County to do something about it.

"We hope the county will look at this and look at other places that have a similar problem and really start to invest in making it a safer place to walk," said Schoppa.

V-DOT says as soon as they get the word from Albemarle County, they are ready to take a closer look at the roads, to see if crosswalks or medians could make them safer.

"It is something that we'll need to go back and in cooperation with Albemarle County, look at these different roads and look at what the appropriate pedestrian improvements would be," said Lou Hatter of V-DOT.

Those improvements could prevent accidents like Thursday night's, which has one teen in the hospital, fighting for his life.

ACCT says they will soon go to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors with their request for safer pedestrian conditions on Rio Road.