Local Group Calls For More Pedestrian Friendly Roads

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Updated: 12:28 PM Feb 16, 2008 Local Group Calls For More Pedestrian Friendly Roads Thursday night's accident on Rio Road, the fifth such pedestrian accident on the stretch of road in the past year, prompted a local group to call for more pedestrian friendly roads. Posted: 11:41 AM Feb 16, 2008 Reporter: Hailey Frances Email Address: hailey.frances@wcav.tv

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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.

Latest Comments

Posted by: wingspan15 Location: Mill Creek on Feb 17, 2008 at 11:09 AM

I am all for more crosswalks and sidewalks. Let's be safer and improve health, get to a healthy weight and oxygenate, by "urban hiking" as much as possible. Will put in a specific request for a crosswalk from Mill Creek to the local plaza and repair the walk signal at that intersection....despite pushing the button, it often will not give the walker the "walk" signal.

Posted by: Paul Location: Waynesboro on Feb 17, 2008 at 12:06 AM

How about these people use the traffic lights to cross the road?? Why are they standing in the middle of the road wearing dark clothing in the first place? Building crosswalks and whatnot are a waste of money as pedestrians will ignore them anyway and cross where they want. Use the established sidewalks which are plentiful along Rio Road and Hydraulic and use the lights to cross. A little (seemingly not so) common sense would go a long way.

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