A roundabout with a garden in the middle, a tree-lined street and a pedestrian pathway could be coming to the town of Appomattox.
These were some ideas from the ongoing Old Courthouse Road corridor study presented at Tuesday night’s Appomattox Town Council meeting.
The study began in January and looks at ways to enhance the 1.1-mile stretch of road, spanning from its intersection with Confederate Boulevard (Business U.S. 460) to the Appomattox Courthouse National Historic Park.
The study’s goal is to see what can be done to make the road more of an entranceway to the park.
It likely will be used to develop a plan to present to the Virginia Department of Transportation to help get some of the tasks completed. Town Manager Bill Gillespie cautioned council it could take about 15 years to complete the project in phases, but they were doable.
Several meetings have been held on the corridor to get input from stakeholders. One more meeting remains. The study is expected to be completed by the end of April.
Council members Steve Conner and Mary Spiggle, who attended the stakeholder meetings, said the roundabout idea was well received.
The roundabout could be built with the space the Virginia Department of Transportation already has without using private property, Conner said.
“I think there’s less possibility for wrecks,” Spiggle said. “That place right there is a wreck magnet.”
Gillespie said it would offer something different for the town, with possibly a garden inside.
“That would certainly be a unique thing to see in Appomattox,” he said. “I think if you were looking to try to develop the corridor, you could get rid of some of the lights and clean that whole intersection up.”
The roundabout also would open the land around it to development as people could pull off into parking areas to visit businesses, Gillespie said.
Some businesses could be geared toward the added pedestrian traffic that would develop with the pathway, he said.
Added green space, like trees and parks along the corridor, would enhance the appearance and break it up, he said.
“It could totally change the character of that whole area,” Gillespie said.
The trees in the median would help separate the corridor and encourage people to drive slower, he said.
Spiggle is excited about the plan.
“It’s a wonderful vision,” she said. “I hope we can do it.”
In other business, Gillespie clarified the purpose of the study to see if Appomattox could support tourism-related attractions, like stores, restaurants and hotels.
The focus of the project is more job-related for businesses supporting tourism, rather than tourism itself, he said.
“It’s no different then investing in an industry park,” Gillespie said. “You’ve just acknowledged that tourism is your industry.”
He compared the study to a résumé, listing the assets and qualifications of Appomattox, in hopes of attracting developers.
In order to attract businesses, a credible market study, like this, is needed to show there is a market in the area, Gillespie said.
“This gives us feasibility and general numbers for national developers who deal with national chains,” Conner said. “They’re not going to take our word that it’s a great place — they want facts from an independent source.”
The clarification was presented because council members had received phone calls from residents confused about the study and its projected $50,000 price tag.
It would be completed in three tasks, advancing to the next level if something viable was discovered. If it is deemed the study is not going anywhere, council would not pay for the next task to be completed, and the study would end, Gillespie said.
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