Category Archives: traffic

Are You Ready For The Richmond Marathon?

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From Richmond Police Department:

The 2017 Richmond Marathon is just days away! Hundreds of runners will take to city streets on Saturday, Nov. 11. There will be numerous “No Parking” zones and street closures will be in effect as a result.

The Richmond Police Department is asking motorists to be patient and on the lookout for runners along the routes. Maps of the course are attached.

Please be aware of signs restricting parking and detours throughout the city starting at 10 am. Friday Nov. 10 and continuing through 7 p.m. Saturday Nov. 11.

The follow streets will be closed or modified during the designated times:

· Tredegar Street between S. 7th Street and Brown’s Island/2nd Street Connector will be closed from 10 a.m. Friday until 7 p.m. Saturday
· Broad Street between Boulevard and N. 12th Street from 4 a.m. Saturday until 10 a.m.
· Hermitage Road (Northbound) between N. Laburnum and Pope Avenue from 4 a.m. Saturday until 3 p.m.
· North Mulberry Street between W. Broad and W. Grace Streets from 4 a.m. Saturday until 10 a.m.
· North 3rd Street between E. Broad and Main Streets from 4 a.m. Saturday until 3 p.m.
· Broad Street between N. 4th Street and Boulevard from 4 a.m. Saturday until 10 a.m.
· Cowardin Avenue (One/Southbound Lane) between Semmes Avenue and Lee Bridge from 4 a.m. Saturday until 1 p.m.
· Tredegar Street between Dominion Resources and Brown’s Island Way/2nd Street Connector from 3 a.m. Saturday until 5 p.m.
· Longview Drive between Scottview Dr. and Wallow Road from 4 a.m. Saturday until noon
· Huguenot Road between Huguenot Bridge and Cherokee Road from 4 a.m. Saturday until 11 a.m.
· Windsorview Drive between Wallowa Road and Forest Hill Avenue from 4 a.m. Saturday until noon
· Riverside Drive between Huguenot Bridge and Scottview Drive from 4 a.m. Saturday until noon
· River Road/Cary Street Road between Maple/Libbie Avenue and Three Chopt Road from 4 a.m. Saturday until 10 a.m.
· Lee Bridge (2/Southbound Lanes) between Belvidere and Cowardin Avenue from 4 a.m. Saturday until 1 p.m.
· Brook Road (southbound) between Fauquier Avenue and North Lombardy Street from 4 a.m. Saturday until 3 p.m.
· Fauquier Avenue (North and Southbound sides) between Crestwood and Brook Roads from 4 a.m. Saturday until 11 a.m.
· Westmoreland Street between Monument and Grove Avenue from 4 a.m. Saturday until 10 a.m.
· Forest Hill Avenue (westbound) between Windsorview Drive and Semmes Avenue from 4 a.m. Saturday until 1 p.m.
· Pope Avenue between Hermitage and Crestwood Roads from 4 a.m. Saturday until 1 p.m.
· Scottview Drive between Riverside Drive and Longview Drive from 4 a.m. Saturday until noon
· Belvidere (1/Southbound Lane) between Lee Bride and East Main Street from 4 a.m. Saturday until 1 p.m.
· Grove Avenue (westbound) between Westmoreland Avenue and Maple Street from 4 a.m. Saturday until 10 a.m.
· Monument Avenue (westbound) between Cowardin Avenue and Forest Hill Avenue/Roanoke Avenue from 4 a.m. Saturday until 1 p.m.
· Bellevue Avenue between Hermitage Road and Bryan Park from 4 a.m. Saturday until 11 a.m.
· Brookland Parkway between Hermitage Road and Loxley Road from 4 a.m. Saturday until 11 a.m.
· East Franklin Street between North 2nd and North 6th Streets from 4 a.m. Saturday until 3 p.m.
· West Grace Street between Boulevard and North Allen Avenue from 4 a.m. Saturday until 9 a.m.
· West Main Street between Belvidere and the Boulevard from 4 a.m. Saturday until 2 p.m.
· 5th Street between East Grace and Tredegar Streets from 4 a.m. Saturday until 5 p.m.
· Boulevard (northbound) between West Cary Street and Hermitage Road from 4 a.m. Saturday until 3 p.m.
· Boulevard (southbound) between West Broad Street and Monument Avenue from 4 a.m. Saturday until 9 a.m.
· Crestwood Road between Pope Avenue and Fauquier Avenue from 4 a.m. Saturday until 11 a.m.
· Maple Avenue between Grove Avenue and River/Cary Street Road from 4 a.m. Saturday until 10 a.m.
· Wallowa Road between Longview and Windsorview Drive from 4 a.m. Saturday until noon
· Semmes Avenue (westbound) between Cowardin Avenue and Forest Hill/Roanoke Avenue from 4 a.m. until 1 p.m.
· North Lombardy Street between Brook Road and West Grace Street from 4 a.m. until 3 p.m.
· Grace Street between North Allen Avenue and North 9th Street from 4 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Enjoy The Folk Festival But Don’t Park In Oregon Hill

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There will be restricted parking in Oregon Hill this year for the this year’s 13th Annual Richmond Folk Festival.

Councilperson Parker Agelasto announced this at last night’s City Council meeting and OHNA President Jennifer Hancock confirmed that they are going over plans now.
Some portions of the neighborhood will be password protected for residents and some barricaded streets will be in effect.

While many neighbors are thankful and relieved to hear this, it is somewhat curious. With the roundabout construction, the route through or into the neighborhood is going to be congested anyway. There have been a few complaints from Southside residents about the lack of a Folk Festival bus shuttle to/from Southside. While the schedule is definitely rich in fantastic talent that should not be missed, there are no huge, blockbuster, headliner names. The Tredegar Civil War Center construction will also take up a lot of space that was previously used for the Festival.

In other words, while folks should look forward to attending the Richmond Folk Festival and expect to hear some great music, and certainly encourage others do so also, it seems like it will be purposely smaller this year. It’s a good year to use mass transit or ride bicycles to the Festival.

Yet Another Reminder of Construction and Road Closing

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As appeared in the Fan District Association‘s newsletter:

Construction and Road Closing
Starting Thursday, October 5, 2017
The Department of Public Works (DPW) will start construction on the Idlewood Avenue, Grayland Ave, and RMTA on-ramp roundabout. The work is expected to last 120 days. During that time the road will be closed. “Resident and emergency access along Idlewood Avenue shall be maintained at all times. In addition to the roundabout, the project includes:
• Landscaped islands
• Pedestrian crosswalk markings
• Handicap ramps
• New signage
The improvement will reduce vehicle and pedestrian conflict points, provide slower operating speeds for motorists, and shorten the crossing distance.
The project does include up to three (3) weekend closures of the 195 off ramp, including a detour. After all hardscape is installed, the site will be landscaped, stabilized and the erosion measures will be removed. At completion, Idlewood Avenue will be converted to a two-way traffic between Harrison Avenue and Cherry Street.”
If you have questions/concerns, please contact Jian Xu, P.E. at 804-646-5402 or the city’s field inspector, Ned Bailey at 804-646- 1553.

Idlewood Roundabout Construction To Begin In October

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Starting on Thursday, October 5, 2017 the Department of Public Works (DPW) will start construction on the Idlewood Avenue, Grayland Ave, and RMTA on-ramp roundabout. The work is expected to last 120 days. During that time the road will be closed. “Resident and emergency access along Idlewood Avenue shall be maintained at all times. In addition to the roundabout, the project includes:

• Landscaped islands
• Pedestrian crosswalk markings
• Handicap ramps
• New signage

The improvement will reduce vehicle and pedestrian conflict points, provide slower operating speeds for motorists, and shorten the crossing distance.

The project does include up to three (3) weekend closures of the 195 off ramp, including a detour. After all hardscape is installed, the site will be landscaped, stabilized and the erosion measures will be removed. At completion, Idlewood Avenue will be converted to a two-way traffic between Harrison Avenue and Cherry Street.”

If you have questions/concerns, please contact Jian Xu, P.E. at 804-646-5402 or the city’s field inspector, Ned Bailey at 804-646- 1553.

ATTENTION: New Traffic Patterns In Neighborhood

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Today the City implemented a proposed stop sign change plan in the neighborhood, thus changing a few traffic patterns.

Stop sign locations have been ‘switched’ or ‘flipped’ at China and Laurel, Albemarle and Laurel, China and Pine, Albemarle and Cherry.

Please alert neighbors and other drivers. As one neighbor put it:

Everybody go slow and safe for a week or so. Expect a few bumpers to be bumped but please watch out for bikes as always.

Stop Sign Proposal Revealed

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This past summer there was a lot of discussion about Oregon Hill’s traffic flow. The Idlewood roundabout is still coming, and more construction near Monroe Park added fuel to the fire, but the real sparks have been several highly visible accidents at key intersections in the neighborhood. A few neighbors have had their corner properties hit multiple times by vehicles over the years. Thankfully, somehow, there has not been any related fatalities.

The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association originally, as of a few years ago, voted and asked for a few additional stop signs at these key intersections, namely Spring and Laurel, and Spring and Pine, in order to create what are essentially all way stops. City traffic engineers have rejected them (though other neighborhoods have been able to prevail in their requests). At one point engineers came back with a small roundabout proposal, but neighbors voted that down, in part because of concerns about parking impacts.

Over the last 6 to 8 months, the conversation changed, along with the construction scene, and more elaborate proposals have been brought forward for overall traffic flow and with what is called ‘basketweaving‘.

Jokes aside, the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association did seriously consider options and ultimately came up its own ‘custom’ proposal.

While nothing has been decided or implemented yet, here it is:

The red circles are where existing stop signs would be changed so that they are ‘flipped’, directing traffic to stop in the opposite directions from the current situations. For example, currently, if you are going north on Pine Street on the 500 block, you do not have to stop, but people approaching on Spring Street do have to stop. In the new scenario, if you were going north on Pine Street on the 500 block, you would stop at the intersection with Spring, and people going west or east on Spring would not have to stop.