Improvements coming to William Street in downtown Fredericksburg

There will be several changes coming to William Street in Downtown Fredericksburg that will aim to improve travel for both commuters and pedestrians. William Street is already undergoing repaving and is one of many road improvement plans underway in the area.

More from a press release by the city:

William Street is currently being repaved as part of the City’s ongoing paving maintenance plan. The full project will extend from the Blue and Gray Parkway to Washington Avenue. Rehabilitating this major travel corridor for downtown Fredericksburg will include a new striping plan and more parking spaces where this route courses through College Heights.

City traffic staff have been discussing options to improve safety along William Street for some time. The speed limit is 35 MPH, for instance, which can make pedestrian crossings a challenge. At one time, William Street functioned as a major east-west roadway.

The Blue and Gray Parkway has since drawn off a significant amount of through-traffic, which allows renewed attention to City neighborhood needs. Parking has also been an issue for many years. A more efficient use of the available pavement between existing curbs can provide more parking as well as calm traffic speeds.

The City’s Traffic Division has evaluated the overall William Street corridor and has developed a striping plan that will be implemented once the current resurfacing project is completed. From College Avenue headed west, the City will narrow the road from two travel lanes to one, to establish 25 on-street parking spaces on the west side of the street.

In turn, the consolidated travel lane will facilitate dropping the speed limit from 35 to 25 MPH. This will allow for the installation of two pedestrian crossings. One painted crosswalk will be located at Stafford Avenue/Adams Street and the other will be at Daniel Street.

These changes will provide pedestrian safety benefits as well as additional parking, without compromising the function of the roadway.

Although some work has been performed at night so far, all remaining work will occur during daylight hours. We anticipate that the new pavement markings between the Blue and Gray Parkway and College Avenue will be in place and the lower speed limit in effect by the end of August.

For updates regarding how traffic may be affected by this road work, please sign-up for Fredericksburg City Traffic Advisories at FredericksburgAlert.com. Look for the list “Traffic Alerts” (located under General Community Updates).

For more information, please visit Fredericksburgva.gov or call 540-372-1010.