Construction of Riverfront Park to begin

The construction of Fredericksburg’s long-awaited Riverfront Park will begin in late February. Last November, City Council awarded a contract for construction of the park to Athena Construction of Triangle, Va.

The start of construction will require the entire park property to be fenced, thus closing the public parking lot in the 700 block of Sophia Street as well as the parking area accessed across Sophia Street from Charlotte Street.

Last fall, the City announced actions it intended to take to mitigate the closure of these parking areas. These actions include:

• Increasing the period of time that vehicles may be parked on the east (river) side of the 600 through 800 blocks of Sophia Street (from Wolfe Street to just south of George Street) from two hours to four hours during the periods that time restrictions apply to downtown streets (Monday – Saturday; 8 a.m.- 7 p.m.)
• Converting the surface parking lot in the 600 block of Sophia Street (between Sophia Street and the river, directly across the street from the Sophia Street Parking Garage) to public parking. The only restriction on the use of this lot will be that only vehicles displaying a City of Fredericksburg resident decal may be parked in the lot Monday through Friday 5-8 a.m. The resident decals may be obtained at the Treasurer’s Office at City Hall by providing proof of City residency.
• Increasing the period that vehicles may be parked in the Sophia Street Parking Garage to four hours (currently, three hours) for no cost. The rate for additional hours will remain the same ($1/hour to a maximum of $8/day.)

All of these actions will be taken prior to the closure of the parking areas on the Riverfront Park property. The specific date on which the closures will occur will be announced by mid-February.

Questions about this matter may be directed to Assistant City Manager Doug Fawcett at [email protected] or by phone at 540-372-1010.