When Development Is Good for Traffic Congestion

U.S. 29 North, a retail corridor north of Charlottesville, is one of the most congested thoroughfares in the Commonwealth. According to the conventional wisdom, plopping down a 1.9 million square-foot mixed-use development at one of U.S. 29's busiest intersections could only make matters worse. But that's not what Albemarle County planners have concluded: They have approved Albemarle Place out of the conviction that its New Urbanism-styled design actually will absorb traffic from U.S. 29 -- and provide a template for the redevelopment of the entire retail corridor by other property owners.

Bob Burke highlights this remarkable project in a newly published Road to Ruin article: Albemarle Place: Can a Giant New Development be Part of Charlottesville's U.S. 29 Traffic Solution?