Overview

This project aims to make 5th Street SW a safer corridor for all mode types. In 2015, the City’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan recommended protected bike lanes along 5th St SW, south of Cherry Avenue. Since that time, the corridor has seen continued unsafe high-speed conditions, leading to several fatalities.  

Previous studies have identified potential options for making improvements to 5th Street SW, but those proposals carried higher project costs and impacts than anticipated. Most recently in 2022, the City studied a proposal that would have removed a vehicle travel lane in both directions on 5th Street SW, resulting in a narrower two-lane road and reserved curbside lanes for buses, emergency vehicles, and bicycles. The travel models, particularly for northbound traffic into the City in the morning, anticipated that this proposal would create traffic queues that stretched from Cherry Avenue to Interstate 64. 

The current proposal would eliminate a single southbound lane on 5th Street Southwest between Cherry Avenue and 5th Street Station and install a protected bi-directional bikeway. The proposal includes using low-cost materials and minimizing impacts to existing curbs and sidewalks to facilitate ease of implementation and allow for changes or removal as its performance is evaluated. Details of proposed options for different segments of the roadway are provided below.

Full 5^th Street Corridor Design

Traffic Impacts

Proposed improvements will increase the vehicle queues turning left from 5th Street SW into 5th Street Station and driving straight through the intersection by 70 feet, approximately 5 vehicle lengths. However, without any changes, the queues would grow over time and the road would perform much worse in 2046 than today without the benefit of safety improvements and a protected bikeway. These impacts may be lessened by potential future VDOT improvements between Old Lynchburg Road south of the Interstate 64 interchange and Harris Road.

Slip Lane at Harris Road

The intersection of Harris Road includes a long slip lane that facilitates higher speed vehicle travel to turn west from southbound 5th Street SW. Introducing a bikeway at this location would create a conflict between the bicycle and vehicle traffic in the slip lane. To address this, the slip lane could be eliminated, returning right-turn traffic into a regular right-turn lane. However, due to the geometry of the existing traffic island, this would either require a costly modification to the traffic island or adjustment of the eastbound lanes of Harris Road to allow for wider turns around the traffic island. The other alternative is to maintain the slip lane, but alter its geometry to slow speeds and enhance visibility of bikeway traffic. 

Short-term Alternative: Removed Slip Lane and Adjusted Harris Road Lanes 

Short-term Alternative: Adjusted Slip-Lane

Long-term Alternative: Removed Slip Lane and Adjusted Traffic Island 

Cleveland Avenue

At Cleveland Avenue, there is a right-turn lane that serves about 16 vehicles during the morning peak hour and 37 vehicles during the afternoon. This turn lane allows residents to pull out of thru-lane traffic before slowing down for a right turn. At this location, there are two design alternatives that have been developed: one with the right turn lane removed and one with the right turn lane adjusted.

Alternative: Right Turn Lane Adjusted at Cleveland Avenue

Alternative: Right Turn Lane Adjusted at Cleveland Avenue 

Cherry Avenue/Elliott Avenue

At the northern end of the corridor at the intersection of Cherry Avenue/Elliott Avenue, biking traffic will need to transition to and from the unprotected bike lanes on Ridge Street. There are pedestrian signals at the intersection, as well as a rapid-flashing beacon-lit crossing at the Ridge Street entrance on 5th Street SW south of the Cherry/Elliott intersection.  

There are three design alternatives for this area. The first two bring all northbound bike traffic all the way to the Cherry/Elliott intersection, with one option that anticipates that bikers will dismount and cross the road with pedestrians and the other that realigns the crossing and adds a bike crossing to the northbound Ridge Street bike lanes with a bike box. The third alternative would force northbound biking traffic to cross at the rapid-flashing beacon-lit crossing at the Ridge Street entrance south of the Cherry/Elliott intersection. 

Alternative: Existing Crossing at Pedestrian Crosswalk at Cherry/Elliott

Alternative: New Bike Crossing at Crosswalk at Cherry/Elliott 

Alternative: Crossing at Ridge Street 

Want to give feedback on the proposed improvements on 5th St Southwest? 

Take the survey here Want to give feedback on the proposed improvements on 5th St Southwest?! We will be collecting feedback through April 30th.  

Come out to the public open house and meet the project team on April 9th at Jackson-Via Elementary School from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.  

Stay tuned to the project page for updates as we look forward to deploying improvements in Summer 2025.