Drivers, bikers and pedestrians will soon face two weeks of lane closures at the intersection of West Main Street and Ridge-McIntire in downtown Charlottesville.
Utility improvements are being made in preparation for the construction of the seven-story Marriott Residence Inn at the northwestern corner of the intersection.
Traffic information signs are alerting the community that the innermost left-turn lane from Main Street onto Ridge-McIntire will be closed for several days starting Monday.
Next, the closure will move to the westbound lane of West Main, affecting those coming from the Downtown Mall in the direction of the Corner. The closures are expected to last two weeks in total.
The hotel’s design was approved by the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review in June. It requires necessary upgrades to the storm sewer and sanitary sewer before construction can begin.
Following the completion of the work on West Main, the entire intersection will be shut down during a Sunday. No specific date has been set for this portion of the closure.
According to staff in the Neighborhood Development Services office, once the utility work is “mostly complete,” the developer will make plans for demolition of the existing buildings at that corner.
The previous businesses in those buildings, City Clay and Random Row Books, have been empty since the end of June.
