Verdant Parkway: County's part likely to open in January

With no opposition– only advice– from Charlottesville City Council and with the Albemarle Supervisors having resolved to open the Melbourne-to-Rio Road portion, the county's stretch of the two-mile Meadowcreek Parkway is poised to welcome drivers in January. While the exact date is undetermined, the Virginia Department of Transportation appears unlikely to reject City Council's December 5 request for tweaks such as turn lane-striping and lower speed limits near schools.

The Hook's person of the year, already famous for another road– the U.S. 29 Western Bypass– has urged the state to speed the opening of the County's 1.3-mile stretch of Meadowcreek (which had a year-ago multi-week test-drive). On December 7, Ken Boyd and the other Supervisors put their request in the form of a unanimous resolution.

"VDOT will evaluate concerns recently identified by the city and coordinate with the city staff on appropriate action," VDOT says in a same-day release

"The update to the schedule as of this week," says VDOT spokesperson Lou Hatter on December 20, "is an estimated opening at the end of the first week of January, weather permitting."

–story updated Tuesday, December 20 swapping out press release VDOT statement for Lou Hatter VDOT statement.