Now there’s a detour in the detour.

UVA’s decision to undertake underground utility work that forced a closure along the City’s key east-west thoroughfare continues to cause traffic delays, which are now exacerbated by a detour through a parking lot.

As shown in these photos shot around 10 o’clock this morning, construction on Ruffin Hall has resulted in flag-person-arrested traffic which takes turns rolling through a small parking lot along Culbreth Road.

A UVA spokesperson, several busy today with today’s meeting of the Board of Visitors, could not be immediately reached for comment.

6pm update: UVA project manager Katherine Meyer did get back to comment, and she says that while not familiar with the detour in the detour, she believes that’s just a temporary construction measure.

Meyer also reports that UVA paid all the requisite fees. According to the blank street closure permit application which she emailed, the City charges anyone wishing desiring a street closure— whether a neighborhood smallie or a key thoroughfare like University Avenue— pays just $25 per day. (Curiously, anyone blocking as few as three parking spaces, at $10 each, would pay more.)

“We don’t close it; the City does,” says Meyer. “We apply for a permit to the repair the infrastructure, and we work with them closely to make it as painless as possible for both parties.”

Meyer says that various City departments— including the Charlottesville Transit Service— were still offering opinions when some pre-construction press releases went out suggesting the much-shorter McCormick Road detour for eastbound traffic.

“People got ahead of themselves and were saying that it’s going to be a big impact,” says Meyer. “We put things out to the best of our knowledge. We never changed the actual routing at the jobsite.”

“While it’s open and available,” says Meyer speaking of McCormick Road, “we don’t encourage it.”

City spokesperson Ric Barrick said this afternoon that the detour was prudent. “The top portion of the steam tunnel is the problem area,” Barrick said, “and you just can’t repair it safely while cars and pedestrians are allowed in the area.”

“Not everybody’s happy,” Meyer acknowledges. But it could be worse. “We asked to close the whole road,” says Meyer, “but the City said no.”

FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION OF THIS DEVELOPING STORY (June 19 in issue 0725) :

As we reported last week, one major Charlottesville road became more winding and narrow starting Tuesday, June 10, when the University of Virginia began performing an excavation around steam pipes under University Avenue near the Rotunda. And while the cost to commuters is two months of extra time, fuel, and traffic, the price UVA pays for closing a main thoroughfare is less than the cost of a tank of gas.

According to a street closure permit application provided by project manager Katherine Meyer, the City charges anyone desiring a street closure�€” whether a neighborhood smallie or a key thoroughfare�€” just $25 per day. (Curiously, anyone blocking as few as three parking spaces, at $10 each, would pay more.)

“We don’t close it; the City does,” says Meyer. “We apply for a permit to repair the infrastructure, and we work with them closely to make it as painless as possible for both parties.”

City spokesperson Ric Barrick said the detour was prudent because the tunnels are in dire need of repair.

“The top portion of the steam tunnel is the problem area,” Barrick says, “and you just can’t repair it safely while cars and pedestrians are allowed in the area.

“Because of the way they’re built, once they dig them up, they are dangerous to be around,” says Barrick, “so we’re limiting access. There will be some walking detours particularly down the hill next to the field.”

The repairs will affect more than just pedestrians and cars. Public transportation will also have to follow detours�€“ bigger detours.

According to Tamika Harris, a spokesperson for the Charlottesville Transit Service, CTS, Route Seven buses (Fashion Square Mall & Downtown) will follow an adapted route that will send outbound buses from West Main onto JPA, continue around the UVA Grounds to Emmet and continue as usual. Inbound buses will reverse the order.

“We aren’t following the main detour because of the size of our vehicles,” says Harris, who says there will be new temporary stops on Emmet outside of the UVA Bookstore parking garage and on JPA near New Cabell Hall.

“I would expect [the detour] to create slight delays because there will be more traffic in those areas than usual,” says Harris, adding that buses will continue to be dispatched every 15 minutes, and the time-points will stay the same. According to Harris, the only thing that will change is the time it takes buses to get from the 11th and Main stop to Barracks Road– a difference projected to be about three or four minutes.

Additionally, some web-related features will not function during the interim. “We can’t track the buses because they are off-route,” says Harris, referring to the new technology on the CTS web site which allows riders to go online and see when the next bus is coming.

UVA spokeseperson Carol Wood says a firm called Waco Inc. will perform the work for under $350,000.

At one point, there was even a detour in the detour, as construction on Ruffin Hall June 13 resulted in flag-person-arrested traffic which took turns rolling through a small parking lot along Culbreth Road.

Project manager Meyer says that while not familiar with the detour in the detour, she believes that’s just a temporary construction measure.

“Not everybody’s happy,” Meyer acknowledges. Perhaps it could be worse. By dipping into McCormick Road, some eastbound traffic can still slip around the excavation site.

“We asked to close the whole road,” says Meyer, “but the City said no.