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Richmond Region Transportation


wrldcoupe4

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25 minutes ago, eandslee said:

The painting on the Pulse bus line lanes have begun. Here’s a photo from Twitter I found:

Pulse Paint Richmond

 

Looks good so far! Hopefully this process will be a very quick one.

Hmmm... I STILL say the trees are too numerous and too large for Broad Street.  Just an opinion. But wow - it doesn't even remotely look like Foushee and Broad (I know that makes no sense...)

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I agree about the trees.  I like trees but two issues I have with them in urban areas: 

1.  The roots eventually buckle the sidewalks which causes a trip hazard.  When, in Richmond's case if the sidewalk is repaired, the repair work doesn't ADA requirements.   

2.  When trees get too tall, they block the view of the facade from the street.  

Edited by Shakman
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5 hours ago, Shakman said:

I agree about the trees.  I like trees but two issues I have with them in urban areas: 

1.  The roots eventually buckle the sidewalks which causes a trip hazard.  When, in Richmond's case if the sidewalk is repaired, the repair work doesn't ADA requirements.   

2.  When trees get too tall, they block the view of the facade from the street.  

Home run, @Shakman-- well said.

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25 minutes ago, DowntownCoruscant said:

Pardon my lack of optimism,  but I don’t think red paint is going to deter the horrendous driving on Broad Street.

This is true! Seriously - I don't think traffic cops stationed on EVERY corner would deter horrendous driving on Broad Street. :tw_wink:

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17 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

From Channel 8 News... more about the PULSE lane repainting (and the overall repaving project)

https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/richmond/final-phase-of-broad-street-construction-project-begins/

 

BROAD-STREET-RED-PAINTING.jpg

 

Love the paint. I wonder why they went with red instead of green? I guess green is reserved for bike lanes more?

 

To the tree discussion: The more trees the better. Better for health of our lungs. Better for cooling down pedestrians with shade. Looks better. Better for climate change. Keeps buildings cooler so less air conditioning use. List goes on and on.

Edited by ancientcarpenter
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  • 4 weeks later...

Nice to see that the PULSE lane painting project is finishing up a month ahead of schedule. Next up: painting "BUS ONLY" in the red lanes. I'm sure the crews are getting their stencils ready as we speak! :tw_thumbsup:

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

https://richmond.com/news/local/broad-street-bus-lane-project-to-finish-ahead-of-schedule/article_6fa5ac55-ff44-545a-9dc3-7ded5fce709b.html

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

This kinda slipped under the radar - but it's an important development: Richmond is receiving $18.4 M in federal infrastructure money that will be used to replace the aging Acca Bridge (Arthur Ashe Boulevard bridge over the Acca yards). Given how much investment is currently taking place in Scott's Addition and is anticipated to take place in the Diamond District, getting a new span for this important midtown artery (using the term b/c the RT-D made the reference of "midtown Richmond"). One of the keys is that the new bridge will be six feet higher/taller than the current bridge, which dates to the early 1940s. There was a freight derailment there in April - and while the new bridge won't impact passenger traffic to and from Main Street Station, it WILL prevent bottle-neck events (super slow downs and derailments) and will faciltate double-stacked freight traffic - which can always have a positive impact locally.

Big under-the-radar story - one that merits a look.

https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/richmond-receives-18-4-million-infrastructure-grant-for-bridge-project/article_5cf9c552-9a68-55e4-a274-9442479d295c.html#tracking-source=mp-in-article

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36 minutes ago, I miss RVA said:

This kinda slipped under the radar.

I read that and agree, another piece of the puzzle that will eventually get better/faster train service to Richmond, can’t wait!
I know I’m not alone here, but man I wish some of these big picture items would be done already. Having to wait another 5-10 years is driving me crazy.  I’m not just talking about high speed rail, but all of the proposed projects in the works, like the state office buildings being proposed,  whatever’s going to happen to the Monroe building, the residential projects around CoStar, CoStar for that matter, VCU arts, residential in Monroe Ward, the Green City development and arena,  and on and on, just want them done or at least get started, I mean, let’s go.  I really feel that these are difference makers and can’t wait to see the effects of these and want them here already.

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18 minutes ago, Hike said:

I read that and agree, another piece of the puzzle that will eventually get better/faster train service to Richmond, can’t wait!
I know I’m not alone here, but man I wish some of these big picture items would be done already. Having to wait another 5-10 years is driving me crazy.  I’m not just talking about high speed rail, but all of the proposed projects in the works, like the state office buildings being proposed,  whatever’s going to happen to the Monroe building, the residential projects around CoStar, CoStar for that matter, VCU arts, residential in Monroe Ward, the Green City development and arena,  and on and on, just want them done or at least get started, I mean, let’s go.  I really feel that these are difference makers and can’t wait to see the effects of these and want them here already.

You and me, brother. I'm turning 60 in a couple of months. It's making me INSANE, the thought of having to wait 5 to 10 years to see just these things- much less not knowing how long it will take the city to really take off from that point. I'm gonna have to make it to 100 to see RVA do so many cool things. Methinks that's not exactly a realistic expectation, unfortunately. That's why I'm so damn impatient when it comes to some of this stuff. Heck, a lot of it. I pray I get to see 20-25-30 more years worth of RVA's transformation. :tw_thumbsup:

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1 hour ago, eandslee said:

Some amazing transportation news coming from GRTC this morning.  Starting next fall (2023) GRTC buses will run down Midlothian Turnpike as far as Huguenot Road (Stonebridge Plaze)!!  What!?  That would have been unheard of up to this point!  It's part of a pilot program to prove there is a need for mass transit in that part of Chesterfield.  After the 1 year pilot program, the county will evaluate its success to determine whether or not to continue the service.  Talk about breaking the glass ceiling!  Chesterfield is allowing more GRTC buses to roam the county!  Amazing!

https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/chesterfield-county/chesterfield-extends-bus-service-down-midlothian-turnpike/?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=t.co

I was just coming to post this. Very good news indeed. With the already existing service to John Tyler Community College, this is another step in a truly regional bus system.

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2 hours ago, eandslee said:

Some amazing transportation news coming from GRTC this morning.  Starting next fall (2023) GRTC buses will run down Midlothian Turnpike as far as Huguenot Road (Stonebridge Plaze)!!  What!?  That would have been unheard of up to this point!  It's part of a pilot program to prove there is a need for mass transit in that part of Chesterfield.  After the 1 year pilot program, the county will evaluate its success to determine whether or not to continue the service.  Talk about breaking the glass ceiling!  Chesterfield is allowing more GRTC buses to roam the county!  Amazing!

https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/chesterfield-county/chesterfield-extends-bus-service-down-midlothian-turnpike/?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=t.co

Very surprising news. Chesterfield has always been very anti public transit so the fact they are actually extending it is very surprising. I’m only guessing here but it seems like they could be piloting this route as a possible portion of a north-south BRT route. We will see though if it works as most of midlothian turnpike doesn’t have sidewalks west of the powhite interchange so who knows how accessible this will be for people. Hoping it does really well but gotta remember that this is Chesterfield.

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@eandslee-- very good and exciting news, indeed! Am guessing this has been in the works for a while, particularly since the Central Virginia transit authority was created.

@plain -- the John Tyler route is the 3B, yes? (Didn't there used to be a separate 111 route that went to Tyler?) ... either way, if you throw in the 95X connecting Petersburg with downtown, this will be a third route to go beyond the city's borders to the south.

@blopp1234-- good point (this is Chesterfield) ... I'm reminded of something my mother (of blessed memory) used to rail about way back when. The social circle she was in (I think PTA and stuff like that - this was when I was a kid) -- some of the women would absolutely INFURIATE my mother. These women all lived in Chesterfield and when Virginia Transit Company became GRTC in the early '70s - the women all expressed fear and loathing that the "city bus" would come out to the county. Their catch phrase that was almost a 'mantra' (and this made my mom's blood absolutely BOIL) -- "We don't want the riff-raff from Richmond coming into Chesterfield."  OMG! My mom would be ready to throw things - she'd be hopping mad. I mean .. c'mon ... particularly in the early 1970s... you don't need a special Capt'n Crunch decoder ring to figure out EXACTLY what these women meant... Jesus...  (And what's the over/under that there are PLENTY who hold by this mindset even until today?)

Either way, I'm very happy to see GRTC moving forward -- and Chesterfield doing likewise (even if they (the county) have to be dragged kicking and screaming and have to have their heels surgically removed from the ground in which they are dug... )  (WHY are there no eyeroll and face palm emojis on here???)

Oh - one more point: true, this could be a test run for a north-south PULSE route with one caveat: this particular GRTC route crosses the river via the 14th Street Bridge (no doubt it'll get detoured to the Manchester Bridge once construction for the replacement to the old Mayo Bridge gets underway) -- but from what little is publicly known about the north/south PULSE route - at least from what's in the City Center Small Area Plan, it looks like the city wants to route that PULSE route to cross the river via the Manchester Bridge. Whether that entails picking up Midlo via a short stretch of Hull Street beginning at Commerce Road - or taking Semmes to Cowardin to Hull - or even Semmes all the way to Roanoke Street (via Forest Hill Avenue) and cutting over at that point to Midlo (which actually would be a "straighter line" for a bus coming through that section of Southside via the Manchester Bridge) remains to be seen. Much as we talk about the efficacy of running the north/south PULSE down Hull in lower Manchester (which again, brings the 14th Street Bridge into play) I'm going to suggest that Hull Street might not be wide enough to accommodate a PULSE line, certainly not without eliminating ALL curbside parking (unless that's already the case north of Commerce Road). But that's a discussion/debate for another time. 

Edited by I miss RVA
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8 minutes ago, wrldcoupe4 said:

Would love to see this happen. 
https://www.virginiamercury.com/2022/08/31/a-new-passenger-rail-corridor-could-connect-hampton-roads-to-blacksburg-and-beyond/

Would be great to take the train to Cville for the weekend. 

Considering where it's going, this could be called the "tailgate train."  I really hope that this comes to fruition.  As someone with easy access to NJ Transit, binding the Commonwealth together via an east-west corridor would significantly increase the quality of life and economic appeal of Virginia (not to mention provide a shot of life into the Valley).

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I'm really liking this proposal. VA definitely needs some kind of cross-state route, and the fact that it will connect both Roanoke and Lynchburg (via Charlottesville) to Richmond and Hampton Roads is great!

 

What will be another great thing is when they rework the tracks at Main Street Station so it can finally get the traffic to/from the south! 

 

Speaking of Main Street Station, Greyhound REALLY needs to be moved there because the current terminal has gone to absolute S#πT!! 

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This will be fantastic - and having additional train service through Main Street Station would be a real plus!

@plain-- 100% agree with you about the tracks/bridge crossing for Main Street Station so that traffic can be re-routed off the CSX main line (bypassing downtown) directly to and through Main Street Station from the south. Hopefully the bridge and track construction will come in time to accommodate trains coming up from Raleigh.

Greyhound: FULLY agreed, but I think Amtrak might be the biggest roadblock. I could be wrong (and someone else likely has much better information that I do) but I believe that Amtrak is the entity that has vetoed MSS becoming a true "multi-modal" transportation hub - they don't want direct competition from a national bus line. I'm thinking that went back to when they agreed to restore service to MSS. Now that service has been re-established, the calculus might have changed - and I can't see them "pulling out" so to speak - but who knows. Anyway - take it with a grain of salt - but that's my understanding of the situation. If someone else has better information to share as to why this hasn't happened already, I'd love to see/hear it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

GRTC's temporary (probably more semi-permanent) bus transfer station started construction today at the corner of 8th and Clay Streets (courthouse parking lot) to make way for the new "tower" to go up where the old public safety building sits (site of the current bus transfer station).  Construction to finish in Spring of 2023.  I suppose that's when construction on the new "tower" will begin.  Plenty of time for VCU to change its mind on the height of this thing.  Here are the details, with some photos:

https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/richmond-courthouse-parking-lot-closed-as-grtc-transfer-station-build-starts/article_97286abd-1615-5987-8e03-97ec6968c2be.html?utm_source=richmond.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fbreaking&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=8af7d0eaf5bba42026bcbde39a6bd3b57d9ca904

Edited by eandslee
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1 hour ago, eandslee said:

GRTC's temporary (probably more semi-permanent) bus transfer station started construction today at the corner of 8th and Clay Streets (courthouse parking lot) to make way for the new "tower" to go up where the old public safety building sits (site of the current bus transfer station).  Construction to finish in Spring of 2023.  I suppose that's when construction on the new "tower" will begin.  Plenty of time for VCU to change its mind on the height of this thing.  Here are the details, with some photos:

https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/richmond-courthouse-parking-lot-closed-as-grtc-transfer-station-build-starts/article_97286abd-1615-5987-8e03-97ec6968c2be.html?utm_source=richmond.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fbreaking&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=8af7d0eaf5bba42026bcbde39a6bd3b57d9ca904

@wrldcoupe4can comment on this FAR better than I can - but from what has been revealed, it's not so much VCU changing the size of this building - I think the spec tenants completely dried up on this building. Yes - VCU DID downsize their space requirements by shifting from offices to labs, rather dramatically shrinking the footprint. But didn't this project -- even prior to VCU's truncation of their space needs and type -- suffer from a pandemic-related downsize in spec space within about a half year (maybe longer?) after it was announced? So indeed - VCU COULD change it - but the impact even if they did -- from all appearances -- would be minimum. Maybe enough to get it into double digits - but I highly doubt to more than 10-11 stories max.  It was the spec space that disappeared with the changes to workforce space requirements brought on by the pandemic that was a significant blow.

One of the biggest problems is - Capital Cities has NEVER - EVER - NOT ONCE - explained WHY they truncated this development SO severely. I guess they figured folks are smart enough to read the tea leaves, but their complete black-box approach to what happened does little more than lead to speculation. I think the only reason we know that VCU truncated and changed their own space requirements is that RBS PUSHED them to confirm whether or not they had pulled the plug on their participation, because THEY were mum about things as well. When they were put on the spot and had to confirm that, yes, they're still part of this development, only then did they reveal that they shifted from office to lab (classroom?) space and downsized considerably.

I'm still smarting about this debacle. Trying to be understanding - but Jesus - this one really sucks. CLEARLY this is a "market size" driven truncation that happens in RVA but not as readily in some of the much larger "peer"/ competitor markets. Guarantee you several of the cities we kvetch about constantly would not have seen the large tower kneecapped like this.

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