BLACKSBURG – The city is expected to make significant additions to its parking capacity over the next few years.
The parking lot at the site of the old Blacksburg Middle School downtown — the bridge is part of a roughly $26 million project that also includes a new police station — is expected to be completed this coming spring.
Blacksburg officials also plan to add another parking lot on Progress Street, which is on the city’s capital improvement program project list for fiscal years 2022-23 through 2026-27. City Council approved the slate in a 7-0 vote last week.
As noted on a city project sheet, the Progress Street parking deck will add to a downtown parking network that includes the soon-to-be-completed structure at the site of the old college and the North End and Kent Square parking garages.
The Progress Street Bridge is expected to cost $16.6 million and its construction schedule is expected to span between the summers of 2025 and 2028, according to the project document.
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However, other details of the projects have yet to be fleshed out.
“As preliminary design is not expected to begin for three years, I cannot answer the specific questions you pose,” Deputy City Manager Chris Lawrence wrote in an email response to a reporter’s questions. from the Roanoke Times. “This will all be part of the feasibility study and detailed design work.
“As this is such a large project, the feasibility and preliminary design work is important and will help guide final decisions on scope, design, cost and final construction schedule.”
Funding for design and construction is limited to state-funded parking, according to the project brief.
“The possibility of other mixed uses and the associated design and construction costs would be pursued through a public/private partnership,” the project brief states. “Form and architectural aspects will also be considered with an emphasis on appropriate interaction with the surrounding neighborhood and Progress Street streetscape.”
The recently approved CIP includes a number of other important projects. These include community center renovations, the Brush Mountain trail system, the Huckleberry Trail bridge at Sheffield Drive and Price Fork Road, and the purchase of electric buses.