Bicycle Friendly Community

Charlottesville, VA | Silver Level

Recent bicycling investment: Over the last year, the City of Charlottesville has completed the East-West Corridor, the primary east-west route connecting two of the most important destinations in in the City (UVa and the Downtown Mall) and most heavily traveled corridor in the community. The east-west corridor runs approximately 3 miles with designated bicycle lanes, signage, and bicycle detection and markings at signalized intersections. This project has enhanced the working relationships between the City, County, University, community organizations, local businesses, and many others that made the project possible.

Bicycling highlights: The number of motivated, dedicated, driven people working to improve biking infrastructure and get more people out there riding in the area create a great community that will be the foundation of all coming improvements.
Government officials are educated, motivated and responsive to cyclists. They are working on a comprehensive master plan and have increased funding for on-street bicycle related improvements 400% in the last 4 years - from 25K to 100K.
Charlottesville continues to be dedicated to being on the forefront of implementing innovative approaches to increase bicyle use and safety. Over the last few years the City has installed two pilot sharrow projects, has been developing a bicycle "app" to gather data on how cyclists move through the transportation system, and has been creating an online route mapping service that uses crowd mapping technology, has hired Mia Birk to train City Staff and the Bicycle Safety Committee. These and other projects demonstrate Charlottesville's commitment to creative and innovative techniques.

Percentage of arterial streets with dedicated bicycle facilities: 28%

Bicycling education in 100% elementary schools and 100% middle schools

Signature cycling events: Boys and Girls Club Cycling Challenge; Family Fun Rides; Half Metric Century; Metric Century; Century ride; Multiple Schlerosis "Tour de Vine"; O-Hill Meltdown Mountain Bike Race; Sprint Tri; International Tri; XTERRA Off-Road Tri race

Some coming bicycling improvements: One of the top 5 priority projects identified in a 2007 "Bike Summit" was a bike-accessible loop trail around the city. City Trails Planner, Chris Gensic, has mapped out the entire loop and is working to complete the connection by 2015. Over the next year, the City plans to construct the 250 Bypass Trail and bridge over the railroad to connect three separate on-street bicycle facilities, all of which make connections to the Downtown Mall area. The City also plans to construct the Meade Avenue Trail, which will allow direct access from the Belmont and Woolen Mills neighborhoods to the Rivanna River Greenway and the VFW ballfields. Additional improvements include bicycle detection at intersections, Safe Routes to Schools, 10 additional bike racks, bike counter, and the launch of CvilleRides.