In its enduring quest for a viable means of building the long-delayed Eastern Avenue bridge/connector road, the county is moving forward with a new procurement strategy that bundles Crozet’s road with another larger bridge project in northern Albemarle. County officials will hold a design public hearing on August 11 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Meadows Community Center in Crozet to share concept designs and answer questions from community members.
Long sought as a key north-south connection between Eastern Avenue in Westhall and Rt. 250 that would ease Crozet’s daily traffic snarls, the bridge project was advanced in 2024 as a Public-Private Transportation Act (PPTA) plan but failed to receive any qualifying bids from contractors. County staff say the simpler design-build plan should attract many more qualified firms.
“This time we’re bundling the Eastern Avenue project with the Boulders Road bridge project in the northern part of the county,” said Rivanna Futures Program Manager Blake Abplanalp. “The whole idea of bundling is that now we have a much more attractive package that will hopefully result in some larger contractors that maybe wouldn’t typically pursue this work and will now be interested.” Boulders Road will be the main access route for AstraZeneca’s massive $4.5 billion pharmaceutical plant on the 87-acre Rt. 29 Rivanna Futures site, which will anchor the area’s growing biotech hub near the UVA Research Park…