ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 16, 1996 TAG: 9607160035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
The hundreds of thousands of visitors a year who make the pilgrimage to Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop home will have an easier time getting to the site, thanks to a new grant.
The Virginia Department of Transportation recently awarded $500,000 in federal funds to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, the private, nonprofit organization that owns and operates Monticello.
The grant will fund the building of a tunnel for pedestrians and cyclists. It will also go toward a stone-arch bridge intended as a new entrance to Jefferson's estate for both hikers and vehicles.
``While enhancing the road to Monticello and preserving the beauty of the natural landscape, the bridge and tunnel will also mean that the more than half a million visitors who come to Monticello each year can approach the home safely by foot, bike or car,'' said Daniel P. Jordan, the foundation's president.
Officials with Monticello announced plans to create a 175-acre linear park along Virginia 53 in the summer of 1993. Costing $4.5 million, the parkway would enhance and protect the entrance corridor to Monticello and offer alternative means of access for those not wishing to drive.
The most recent infusion of money from VDOT brings the amount the foundation has received through the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act to $3 million.
Private donors have contributed more than $1 million toward the project, officials said.
Will Rieley, whose Charlottesville firm, Rieley & Associates, created the three-phase plan, said construction should begin within the next six months and should take about two years to complete, but the Commonwealth Transportation Board must give its approval before proposals are requested.
``We are poised to go out to bid for phase one,'' he said, adding that the Commonwealth Transportation Board must give its approval before proposals are requested.
The first phase of the project includes the development of a 2.4-mile, handicapped-accessible trail for hikers and bicyclists, landscape work along the roadsides, and safety improvements to Monticello's entrance.
The second phase involves the development of an 89-acre arboretum of trees and shrubs, new trail overlooks, and the burial of overhead utility lines.
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