Changes coming to Lee Circle
Going from two lanes to one around the circle.
This will not come as a shocking revelation to anyone reading this but a large number of people drive cars along Monument Avenue and a large percentage of those drivers are exceeding the speed limit. The results of this unpleasant combination are accidents and injuries.
The Richmond Department of Public Works is in charge of our local roads and making sure that we can all safely navigate about had determined that the situation at Lee Circle needed to be addressed. In February, RK&K was hired to come up with a plan to make Lee Circle safer. Meetings were held with nearby residents and neighborhood associations, issues discussed and the end result is what you see above. The lanes around the monument will be reduced from two (side by side racing action) to one (single track).
Work is expected to finish by April of 2015 and the engineering cost estimate is $330,000.
Phil Riggan from Richmond.com attended the Urban Design Commission meeting that approved this plan on Tuesday reported the following figures on dealing with the traffic.
The goal is to reduce traffic speeds to between 15-20mph, which should greatly reduce the chances of accidents, especially severe accidents. Monument Avenue sees more than 17,000 vehicles per day and Allen Avenue about 1,000, according to the discussion during the UDC meeting.
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Richard Hayes
When Richard isn’t rounding up neighborhood news, he’s likely watching soccer or chasing down the latest and greatest craft beer.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Biked that circle every day for 3 out of 4 years of college and WOW that picture seems so much safer than it currently is. I never got why it was two lanes going across Allen anyway, should improve monument ave. flow while allowing pedestrians and cyclists easier crossways.
The price tag seems a bit high considering what’s being changed here but it definitely is an improvement.
I agree with pp that the price tag is a bit high but that plan sounds good. But it would be cheaper to teach people how to use a traffic circle? It’s a European staple and usually has many more lanes than 2. But alas this is the USA and the plan looks good.
In other words, they’re going to turn it back into a regular intersection, the way it used to be. Only cost a few hundred thousand to figure out the original way worked best.
We should have just kept the cobble stone like everybody wanted.
No need to speed tempering with cobble stones because it auto regulates speed.
Glad to see the city recognizing the disasters they have created on our streets, but it’s too little too late.
The first time I was ever hit by a car on my bicycle was at this intersection.
Girl came flying into it going at least 40 and didn’t yield. Smashed me off the bicycle and then tried to yell at my like I inconvenienced her.
This is not the same as it was before. Before, there were the width of the road was the same all 360 degrees around it and Allen had stop signs, while Monument had clear right of way. Now it has a center lane for going along the N/S axis. This means that if you are driving a jeep at 40+ mph in the left lane of Monument going east (as passed me this morning) you will have to merge into the right lane of traffic to go through the intersection, or end up going around the circle in left lane.
Also, I do not recall cobblestones. Monument has been break since I moved here almost 30 years ago. The bricks have some sort of asphalt looking coating on them, but are still brick. Maybe I don’t remember the cobbles?
This intersection is great during a rain. Almost always can see someone spin out from going to fast. Say a huge pickup spin around going west just a week ago.