Transportation Planning

The University of Virginia covers 1,135 acres and has just under 20,000 students, 2,000 faculty and over 9,000 staff. In addition, the University is the destination for tens of thousands of visitors each year. Its hospital cares for individuals and families from across the nation and it is by far the largest employer in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area. It is not surprising, then, that there are tremendous demands on parking and transportation, and that these have had a significant impact on the physical development of the University.

As the University grows, it has lost the scale of its central core, the Academical Village. Originally occupying just 196 acres, the University housed only several hundred students, eight faculty and a handful of staff. What was once a tightly knit campus easily traversed by foot has become a sprawling institution with remote parts that are heavily dependent on the automobile. In the 1970's, the University experienced perhaps its biggest impact of the automobile on campus planning with the construction of the Law and Darden schools in North Grounds.

The University now struggles to unify its many disparate parts and plan for future growth. Rather than repeat the 1970's era approach to expansion by suburbanizing the University with new satellite nodes such as in North Grounds, the University now focuses on infill and vertical growth. Furthermore, the University desires to develop integrated, multi-modal transportation systems that provide safe and efficient alternatives to vehicular traffic. As part of this goal, in 1998, the University's Board of Visitor's adopted guidelines to establish a "Groundswalk", a pedestrian/bicycle network of paths that are intended to link the various parts of the University Grounds.

Another important goal for the University is to plan for improved vehicle access, structured parking and shuttle services as another means to lessen the impact of traffic congestion on the local community. The University must engage transportation professionals to conduct detailed traffic studies to assist in planning transportation improvement projects of this nature.