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Take Action: Make Free Bridge Lane Permanently Car-free

The Free Bridge Lane storywalk is just one of the quick improvements to pop up on Free Bridge Lane. You can share your ideas here. Photo by Peter Krebs/PEC.

Late last year, Albemarle County closed Free Bridge Lane to automobile traffic, creating a safe, riverside space for walking, running, and biking. At its August 6 meeting, the Board of Supervisors will get a report and begin discussing making the arrangement permanent.

Free Bridge Lane meets a critical need in our community: it is ideal for novices and people with mobility challenges and it is walking distance from multiple neighborhoods in both the City and the County. It provides the kind of everyday access to nature that we talk about all the time.

Please sign PEC’s petition requesting the following: 1) finalize the road closure, 2) fund and build a first wave of safety, access and environmental improvements, and 3) budget in coming years to construct the proposed promenade. We will forward the petition to County leaders when the time comes.

You can share your ideas for improvements, projects, activities, or events for Free Bridge Lane or contact the Board of Supervisors directly to thank them for the trial and urge them to expand it.

New skilled meat cutter training program will help region’s meat processors serve Virginia cattle farmers

New skilled meat cutter training program will help region’s meat processors serve Virginia cattle farmers

A recent study by The Piedmont Environmental Council and American Farmland Trust, spurred by pandemic-related breakdowns in national and local food supply systems, has led to the development of a new meat-cutter training program to be offered by the Rappahannock Center for Education beginning late fall 2021. Using a national training model, the program is intended to help local meat processors expand their operations and increase their capacity to serve the region’s cattle farmers by building a larger pool of available skilled laborers in the field.