CHO North South Railroad Crossings
The City of Charlottesville is divided into quadrants by railroad tracks. The photos below are of pedestrian facilities at the twelve railroad crossings. For a map of these locations visit Google Maps

Railroad crossings create areas of heightened risk for pedestrians.
All north-south traffic in Charlottesville, vehicular or pedestrian, is routed through one of twelve portals over or under the railroad tracks.
(NOTE! The east west division of the City by the railroad, and those crossings, deserve study by City staff. These graphics only depict the north-south crossings.)

With the exception of Franklin Street and Shamrock Road, the City has provided sidewalks for the safe passage of pedestrians to parallel streets north and south of the railroad at all of these crossing points.


Pedestrian challenge...
if the movie will not play on your computer, visit You Tube for a smaller version


Franklin Street (looking north)

Sidewalks? No.
Sidewalk terminates at the building just visible through "the culvert", 123 Franklin. North of that masonry building there is a 350 foot gap with no sidewalk to the parallel neighborhood street, East Market. Pedestrians must walk in the road.

Carlton Road (looking south)

Sidewalks? Yes...
Carlton has dual sidewalks connecting to parallel neighborhood streets to the north and south.

9th Street SE, Belmont Bridge (looking south)

Sidewalks? Yes.
Dual sidewalks connect the Belmont Bridge to parallel neighborhood streets to the north and south.

4th Street SE (looking south)

Sidewalk? Yes.
A single sidewalk connects the 4th Street SE to parallel neighborhood streets to the north and south. A second sidewalk exists (on the west side of the street) but it is not continuous.

2nd Street SE (looking south)

Sidewalk? Yes.
Dual sidewalks connect 2nd Street SE to parallel neighborhood streets to the north and south.

1st Street SE (looking south)

Sidewalk? Yes.
The sidewalk on the west side of 1st Street to Garrett Street was completed in the summer of 2012.

Ridge-McIntire (looking south)

Sidewalk? Yes.
Dual sidewalks connect Ridge-McIntire to parallel neighborhood streets to the north and south.

5th Street SW (looking north)

Sidewalk? Yes.
A single sidewalk connects the 5th Street SW to parallel neighborhood streets to the north and south.

7th Street SW (looking north)

Sidewalk? Yes.
Dual sidewalks connect 7th Street SW to parallel neighborhood streets to the north and south. However, there are ADA issues.

Roosevelt Brown Boulevard (looking north)

Sidewalk? Yes.
Dual sidewalks connect Roosevelt Brown Boulevard to parallel neighborhood streets to the north and south.

Shamrock Road (looking south)

Sidewalk? Not exactly.
The sidewalk on the west side of Shamrock has a gap of approximately 150 feet. In the last year a pedestrian path was created with asphalt and marked with paint.

Jefferson Park Avenue (looking north)

Sidewalk? Yes.
Dual sidewalks on the new JPA bridge connect to parallel neighborhood streets to the north and south.


To answer "yes" to the question "sidewalk?" I was looking for provisions made for the safe passage of pedestrians.. What has been done at Shamrock isn't a sidewalk, but it is a good faith effort, a step in the right direction.

The pedestrian below is not on a sidewalk... pedestrians on Franklin get no help from their city.