Five new places to bike or walk in the Charlottesville area this holiday season – Charlottesville Tomorrow

McIntire Park bridge

The biggest project the city completed this year is the bridge over the Norfolk Southern Railroad within McIntire Park.

The cost of building a bridge is much higher than the cost of clearing or paving a trail. The bridge had a price tag of $2.1 million, with one-fifth paid by local dollars and the rest by federal dollars distributed by the state, Gensic said. But the value also is high because bridges and tunnels stitch together areas that have been close but separate for years.

People can generally find a way until they hit a river, a highway, a railroad, and then theyre kind of stuck. Breaching the barriers is the heavy lifting, Gensic said.

Gensic and Krebs are both advocates for the benefits of paths and trails beyond recreation. Krebs said that using paths and trails for everyday transportation reduces stress and is good for the environment. Gensic said that providing good walking and biking infrastructure helps the affordability of the region if families do not need to own a car or do not need to miss work if their car breaks down.

Gensic said he has found that residents already are using new city paths for transportation.

A device installed on the McIntire pedestrian bridge counted 24,000 crossings in the first month, Gensic said. He said spikes in crossings around 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. tell him that people are using the infrastructure to get to work or school and back.

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Five new places to bike or walk in the Charlottesville area this holiday season - Charlottesville Tomorrow