Revised Floyd Avenue ‘Bike Boulevard’ concept to be revealed at community meeting
Community invited to see project revisions made in response to residents’ feedback
Following a series of public meetings seeking input from residents and business owners alike, Richmond City Council members Charles Samuels, Jon Baliles, and Parker Agelasto will reveal a conceptual plan for the proposed Floyd Avenue ‘Bike Boulevard’ next week.
The plan, which takes into account feedback received from the public, will be presented Tuesday, July 15th at the Virginia Historical Society at 428 North Boulevard.
For those unfamiliar with plans for the corridor, they are as follows (in a nutshell):
The project is looking at modifying Floyd Avenue by considering the use of motor vehicle traffic-calming measures such as mini traffic circles, chicanes, speed cushions, and traffic diverters. These facilities will discourage cut-through motor-vehicle traffic, but allow local motor-vehicle traffic, while also facilitating safe, efficient bicycle and pedestrian travel along the corridor.
Council members say their goal of the latest meeting is to continue the conversation with the community and pave the way for a bicycle corridor that will run from VCU to Carytown and ultimately “increase livability along Floyd Avenue in Richmond, Virginia by enhancing biking and walking ease, enjoyment and opportunity…”
The meeting is open to the public and begins at 6:30 PM. For more information contact Marianne Pitts at 804.646.6532 or marianne.pitts@richmondgov.com.
To catch up on the project’s progress thus far, check out ongoing coverage from RVANews editor Nathan Cushing here. Background and more context is available from the city here (PDF).
File photo/John Murden
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Trevor Dickerson
Trevor Dickerson loves all things Richmond and manages RVANews’ West of the Boulevard and West End community sites.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
They really need impact estimates. How much will auto traffic INCREASE on neighboring streets? Then we can give proper feedback. We haven’t had a chance to see the full proposal yet. How can you be ready for revisions if you never estimated the impacts of the proposal?
Beth, you know sometimes you don’t know exactly what the impact will be down to the exact number of cars that will shift to adjacent streets. Will some shift? Sure. Do we really have a good handle on exactly how many? No. Anyone who says they can estimate it with any real accuracy is lying. Is it likely to be a noticeable increase on adjacent streets? Highly unlikely because there is so little automobile traffic on Floyd already that any shift to adjacent streets will likely be so small as to go unnoticed. When you weigh the highly uncertain but very marginally negative impact of shifting auto traffic to other streets against the highly certain and extremely positive benefits to non-auto users of having a streets that is prioritized for them and connects from the Museum District and Carytown through VCU, I think it becomes clear what should be done.
I live in the city but I won’t be using the bike street because I work in Chester. In Chester they’re building new offices and distribution centers and jobs are being created left and right. Here in Richmond we’re building bike lanes, planting shrubs, and painting murals. Neighborhoods are full of the chronic unemployed.
This is a completely absurd idea–a Richmond “feel good” solution to a problem that does not exist. I live on Grove Avenue–and the only demonstrable effect of turning Floyd into a “bike boulevard” is that it will increase traffic on other Fan streets. Grove is already a busy street; I do not want more traffic on Grove. And what exactly will be the benefit of this bike boulevard? There is NO demonstrable benefit. We get a lot of vague rhetoric about making Floyd a more “livable and walkable” street. Hello: Floyd is already a livable and walkable street–it has sidewalks and trees and doesn’t have a lot of traffic. We hear that it will be easier and safe to bike through the area. Really? It is already quite safe to bike in the Fan. This idea will not prompt a lot of people in the Fan to start biking; anybody with the slightest inclination to bike already does so! So what precisely is the goal–to turn Floyd into a paved park so that little old ladies (and men) can hop on bikes and peddle a few blocks? Or 10-year-old kids? There is no demonstrable benefit, but we have people who think by promoting little ideas like this they will suddenly turn Richmond into Portland. I bike, I like biking, and I might support the idea if it had a real, demonstrable benefit in exchange for boosting traffic on my already busy street. It doesn’t.
This is so exciting; these are working great in other cities. Glad to see Richmond not coming in 30 years late on a good idea. Homeowners are often afraid of trails and projects like this, but it almost always boosts property values for anyone living within a few blocks of similar projects. People like living near a primo recreational option where they feel safe letting their kids bike considerable distances, commute easily, or where they can take a leisurely ride on a nice summer night without worrying too much about cars.
I believe in this idea. I believe that bike lanes lead to bikers, like sidewalks lead to walkers. We all need a safe place. We all deserve to lead lives regardless of our mode of transportation or physical capabilities.