Category Archives: construction

Idlewood Roundabout Plan Becomes Funded and Closer To Reality

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Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association President Jennifer Hancock announced good news in regard to the Idlewood Roundabout proposal by making public an email from Councilperson Parker Agelasto:

Our roundabout is finally going to become a reality thanks to Parker.

Thanks
Jennifer
OHNA

From: Agelasto, Parker C. – Council Member
Subject: Idlewood Roundabout

Hello everyone,

I wanted to provide an update regarding the Idlewood Roundabout. Each and everyone one of you contributed to a campaign to make this a priority. My fellow Councilmembers and the Administration heard you clearly. The project that has been discussed for nearly 15 years is finally going to be a reality.

Thanks to Brian Ohlinger for working with us to secure the $250,000 funding support from VCU for this initiative. This provided the necessary leverage for the project to get the attention of those at City Hall. Likewise the commitment from the St. Andrews Association to permit easements for the project made it very doable. The City has set aside $200,000 in the FY2014 capital improvement budget. This will leverage another $200,000 through VDOT’s revenue sharing program. The project thus has $650,000 and should begin over the next 12 months.

CAO Byron Marshall has been very helpful throughout the process. If you happen to see him, please thank him for his support of the Idlewood Roundabout. In the meantime, I will try to organize a public presentation on the project once the Department of Public Works has more specific information to share.

Sincerely,
Parker C. Agelasto
Richmond City Council, 5th District

Editor’s Note: This corresponds to number 5 of my own top ten issues for the neighborhood. With issues 4,5,6,7 all getting somewhat addressed (and a sincere hearty thanks to those who helped make that happen), it may be time to repopulate the list with some new issues.

2nd Street Connector’s Official Opening On Thursday

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Despite continued questions and controversy, the Mayor’s Office released the following press release:

For Immediate Release Contact: Michael Wallace
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 (804) 646-2772 Michael.Wallace at Richmondgov.com

Mayor to Officially Open New 2nd Street Connector Road

WHO: Mayor Dwight C. Jones
Ellen Robertson, Richmond City Council Vice President, District 6
Parker Agelasto, Richmond City Council, District 5
Carter Reid, Vice President – Administrative Services & Corporate Secretary, Dominion
Bruce Hazelgrove, Vice President – Corporate Resources, NewMarket Corporation
Jack Berry, Executive Director, Venture Richmond

WHAT: Official opening of the new 2nd Street Connector road.

WHEN: Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 3 p.m.

WHERE: New 2nd Street Connector Road
Street extends from 2nd Street to Tredegar Street
Richmond, VA

BACKGROUND:

Mayor Jones, members of Richmond City Council, Dominion, New Market Corporation, and Venture Richmond will officially open the new 2nd Street Connector road. Project represents the first completed project of the 2012 Richmond Riverfront Plan.

Free parking is available in the parking lot off of Tredegar Street just west of the American Civil War Museum parking lot.

# # #

Renovations Close Lane Of Laurel Street Temporarily Near Monroe Park

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From City announcement:

For Immediate Release
May 8, 2013
For more information, contact:
Sharon North – (804) 646-5607

Lane Closure – Laurel Street
WHO: City of Richmond Department of Public Works

WHAT: Lane Closure

WHEN: Monday, May 13 through Friday June 17

WHERE: Laurel Street between Cathedral Place and West Franklin Street

BACKGROUND: The northbound lane of the aforementioned street will be closed to allow for renovations at 801 W. Franklin Street.

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Letter to City Council On Historic Canal

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Neighbor Charles Pool sent this email to members of City Council yesterday.

(Ed. note: He received permission to send them an attachment of the “Tiller” magazine article, but I have not received permission to post that here. If I do receive it or a public website link to it, I will be sure to post it here.)

Dear Richmond City Council members,

Please take time to read the article entitled, “New Richmond Amphitheater Endangers Canal Plans” by Elizabeth Davis in the attached Winter/Spring 2013 edition of the “Tiller,” the wonderful publication of the Virginia Canals and Navigations Society (VCNS).

This article highlights the threat to the historic canal by Venture Richmond’s proposed amphitheater. If the canal bank is lowered as proposed, it would destroy the long-range plan of a canal boat trip to Maymont. Concern for our canal has arrived from as far away as Yangzhou, China, where the World Canal Conference “urged the people of Richmond, Virginia to prevent further destruction to the canal and to preserve, restore, interpret and wisely use this irreplaceable amenity for Virginia and her visitors.”

Other cities would be envious of our canal, running through the heart of downtown Richmond, that was promoted by George Washington at Mount Vernon, the canal company’s honorary President!

As noted in the “Tiller” editorial by Holt Messerly, “I want all people to enjoy this precious national resource for the betterment of Richmond, and for the preservation of our history and for the enjoyment of all — not just for someone to be able to cut the grass easier and see a straighter line to an amphitheater. We must look at the big picture and consider all of the areas as one big entity; a green way with a blue way …”

Continue reading →

Overlook Trail Work Coming up

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There was a meeting with contractors and City staff on site yesterday at the ramp below the Overlook at Oregon Hill. The paving of the area and addition of handicap railing will begin soon. Work is anticipated to begin within the next week to week and a half.

Please be aware that this area will be a construction site and not accessible during the project.

This work stems from state greenway grants that the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association previously applied for and won with the help of Napi Ippolito.

DPU Doing Work On Belvidere and Cumberland

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From email:

Starting Wednesday, April 3, contractors for the Department of Public Utilities will be making drainage repairs at the northwest quadrant of the intersection of Belvidere and Cumberland streets. Two lanes of Belvidere headed south will be closed for 2-3 days to install a manhole. One lane of Belvidere and one land of Cumberland will then be closed for approximately three weeks.

Parking will be limited in this area during April, which will impact VCU students. Repairs include replacement of two drop inlets, installation of a manhole, repair of an existing drop inlet, and curb and gutter construction. Estimated completion date is May 1.

Mariane Jorgenson
Marketing and Public Relations Specialist
Richmond Department of Public Utilities
730 E. Broad Street, 6th Floor
Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 646-5224, cell (804) 690-8589
www.richmondgov.com/dpu
Blog www.cordpu.blogspot.com
Twitter: @UtilityBuddy
Facebook www.facebook.com/rvadpu

Richmond Riverfront Corporation Proposes Elevated Bike Tubes As Part of 2015 Race Preparations

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It’s already been quite a morning for riverfront development plans, and yet there is more…

Overlooking the Haxall Canal, a representative from the Richmond Riverfront Development Corporation made this announcement:

“Some of our corporate members are concerned about the daily dangers for our commuter drivers and workers presented by bicyclists who insist on riding in the same riverfront area streets as motorized vehicles, therefore, we are proposing to building separate but equal, elevated bike lane tubes. In addition to increasing safety, this project will represent a major contribution to the 2015 UCI World Road Cycling Championship race that will be held in our fair city.”

Skycycle screen shot

The curiously unnamed representative declined to put a cost to this bike tube project, noting that this still needed to be worked out within the public/private partnership. While it was not stated, it seems likely that this project will be done in tandem with the James River Skyway project and Japanese-Italian conglomerate Fuki-Trani. Elevated bike lane tubes are all the rage in the urban design world since last year, when landscape architect Sam Martin proposed Skycycle, a separated, elevated system of bike lanes for London.

Locally, elevated tubes were mentioned several times at the recent Envision This Challenge for Shockoe Bottom, a contest that sought to gin up plans to connect the Bottom and the Slip.

Members of the Richmond bicycling community seemed more surprised than anyone else. City Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Trails Coordinator Jakob C. Helmboldt and New Sportsbackers Bike Advocate Max Hepp-Buchanan have not stated anything in relation to this announcement yet. Though longtime City watchers have also been whispering about future Richmond ‘tube projects’ for a while now, including a new, improved Church Hill tunnel and ‘high speed vacuum’.

Venture Richmond To Release Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday Cheers Schedule

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In exciting local entertainment news, the public/private partnership Venture Richmond announced plans to release their schedule for a new concert series that would take place every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday summer evening at their proposed new amphitheater.

While a full listing will not be available until Friday of this week, some of the bigger names that rumored to be part of this series include metal band Trixter, American Idol country singer Danny Gokey, rapper Machine Gun Kelly, goth rocker Marilyn Manson, hip hop’s Keyshia Cole, Nickelodeon’s Fresh Beat Band, and megastar David Bowie (supporting his new album). There were also hints that there would be multiple performances by ‘Center Stage Stars’, subsets of the Richmond Symphony that play at reduced rates (minimum wage). Local band “Six Sheets to the Wind”, which plays yacht rock’ from the ’70’s as well as ’90’s ‘skacore’ has been suggested as one of the opening bands, with more to be announced.

Oregon Hill residents were both enthralled and disturbed by the news. “WoooooHoooooo!” exclaimed VCU sophomore Rich Berry. In contrast, the Overlook Condo Association immediately released a statement in protest, mainly due to sound concerns. “This goes against the deal”, said one Overlook resident who wished to remain anonymous. In response, a Venture Richmond said that “While it is true we told Overlook residents we would not host Friday Cheers at the amphitheater, that was before the Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday Cheers series was developed.”

In other news, the City government announced a plan to raise admission taxes and release new nightclub restrictions.