THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 15, 1996 TAG: 9607150053
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: 38 lines
The 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 Route 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.
The most recent infusion of money from VDOT brings to $3 million the amount the foundation has received through the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act.
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.
KEYWORDS: MONTICELLO GRANT by CNB