Gordonsville progressing on Main Street project

Fronted by curtained store windows and colorful trim, the buildings of Gordonsville's downtown suggest the sleepiest and coziest of European villages. The resemblance is intentional and attractive and while private investors began reshaping Main Street a decade ago, for the past three years, the town has worked to secure grant funds to construct an equally appealing roadway through its downtown streetscape. The most recent transformation of Gordonsville’s Main Street nears its beginning stages as the projects design team recently submitted a complete design plan to VDOT in hopes of securing a fourth round of funding.
The streetscape project, said town manager Sabrina Martyn, will improve the safety and attractiveness of Gordonsville's downtown.
"This project will impact economic development and tourism, but also safety," she said. "It will link two historical sections of the town. Currently, there's not even a sidewalk connecting the Exchange Hotel and downtown."
Martyn said the main components of the project will be increased lighting and sidewalks and brick crosswalks. Pending VDOT's review process, the town manager hopes construction on Main Street can begin by summer of 2012. The project will be divided into three phases, with phase one consisting of the section from the railroad overpass to the ABC store and phase two being the section from the overpass to the King Street intersection. Phase three will begin at the ABC store and stretch to the Exchange Hotel and along Main Street near the BBQ Exchange.
"Basically, we had to do something," said Gordonsville Mayor Bob Coiner. "If you walk down the street the curb zig zags it's so broken up. Until now, we've treated them like a pothole, just filling them in where it's cracked and broken, but something needed to be done."
Coiner said the main components of the project are regrading the steepest parts of Main Street to form a flatter surface, the planting of trees and greenery along the sidewalks and at certain points in the median, widening the sidewalks and installing brick crosswalks. The mayor also said a few parallel parking spots should be added to the east side of the street where none currently exist.
"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel," said Coiner. "We researched what has worked in other similar towns, such as Leesburg and Middleburg and thought about how we could incorporate those ideas into Gordonsville's downtown."
The design, said Coiner, is an effort to reverse decades of influence from malls and department stores, which he said have shuttered and vacated Main Streets all over the country. Coiner said he believed a sprucing up of Gordonsville's main thoroughfare will create a more pleasant place to walk, shop and eat.
"Now, a destination restaurant, or several, and shops and parks, that's what works downtown these days," said Coiner.
Coiner said the construction is broken into segments so all of downtown isn't shut down at once. He said the merchants have been understanding and that an effort will be made to emphasize parking behind shops as well as well timed sales during certain construction times.
"Looking 100 years into the future, those few weeks [of construction] will sort of fade into our past," said Coiner. "This is something that will be a solid and strong economic engine for the next century."
The upcoming VDOT review process will determine what kind of schedule the streetscape project will take once construction begins.
"The thing that really determines our timeline is VDOT's process," said Martyn. "It's going to take hopefully no more than four months, based on our previous experience. We'll receive comments, which we'll have to address and then resubmit our plans."
In the Gordonsville Town Council's November meeting, Martyn updated the council on the progress of the project. Through the first three rounds of funding and the addition of funds from a previous project, the total grant funds for the streetscape project are more than $1.7 million. The final estimate for the project's three phases are nearly $3 million. As part of the project, the town must commit 20 percent of project costs in cash or in-kind match. Thus far, the town has met its commitment ($439,000) and needs another $750,000 to finish the project. The latest grant request is for 80 percent of that figure, or slightly less than $600,000.
Martyn said the only detail yet to be decided is what kind of streetlamps and bulbs to install along Main Street and that that detail will be ironed out as VDOT reviews the town's design plan.
During the meeting, the council was also briefed on another of Gordonsville's transportation enhancement grant projects, the depot. A tarp, which had been used to cover the depot's leaking roof, has torn and been removed. The town is now in the process of getting estimates for temporary roofing materials to protect the depot's interior until renovations can begin.