Location
Charlottesville, VA
Status
Anticipated for 2021
Client
City Of Charlottesville
Project Cost
23 Million Dollars
Belmont Bridge has historically been a vital pedestrian and vehicular link over the CSX Rail right of way, between the downtown Charlottesville and Belmont, its industrial -residential neighborhood to the south. In response to the deteriorating condition of the current 1960 bridge as well reinvigorated urban growth, the city commissioned the engineers, Kimley Horn Associates with KGP as Bridge Architect to restore a decade long pursuit to provide a design that matched the community’s goals and vision.
Working with the community as well as multiple city agencies through extensive public outreach, the team was tasked to create less a landmark than an urban corridor, that ultimately would merge the communities on each of the tracks.
After conducting extensive workshops, the team developed a design responsive to a range of users devoting 60% of the bridge to bike and pedestrian use. Computer modeling showed that vehicular capacity was governed alone by the intersection conditions allowing the bridge to be optimized for other modes of travel. The surrounding urban fabric required unique.