August 17, 2011

With the primary days away, Democratic candidates for Charlottesville City Council vying for the party's three nominations are busy getting their campaign messages out to the voting public.

Current Councilor and candidate for re-nomination Satyendra Huja shared his ideas and solutions Wednesday morning to the City's traffic and transportation problems. He also addressed not receiving endorsements from other members of City Council.

"I think the citizens will decide who will be elected. Their vote and their view point is more important than any councilor's opinion," he said.

Huja says transportation is a major concern, topped by construction of the Meadow Creek Parkway. He indicated that Council needs a balanced and multi-model transit plan.

His suggestions include:

Bike

- Interconnected network of bikeways throughout the city

- Implementation of bike network should start with allocation of at least $250,000 per year

- First bike lanes installed should be an east-west route following
Ivy Road, University Avenue, W. Main Street, Water Street, 10th Street and E. Market Street

Pedestrian

- Build or complete sidewalks on at least one side of all neighborhood streets

- Build sidewalks on both sides of collector and arterial streets

- Give priority to safe sidewalks to all schools

Transit

- Restructure transit system to be more efficient and customer friendly

- Increase frequency of city buses to every 15 minutes

- Expand transit system to include northern part of the city

- Create a city/county transit district to facilitate regional transit cooperation and coordination

Automobile

- Complete construction of Meadow Creek Parkway

- More aggressively implement traffic calming measures in residential neighborhoods

- Construct Hillsdale Drive, construct ramps at Route 250 Bypass, replace Belmont Bridge

Rail

- More frequent passenger rail service through Charlottesville

Residents will have a chance to hear from both Democratic and Independent candidates for City Council during a public forum Wednesday evening at 7pm at Random Row Books.