Does downtown Richmond need a second boat landing?

I was at Ancarrow’s Landing this past weekend and saw for myself how busy the parking lot and boat landing was on a beautiful spring day during the peak of fish migration in Richmond, the place where the Falls of James River meets the tidal waters.  The place was packed, with boat trailers in line […]

I was at Ancarrow’s Landing this past weekend and saw for myself how busy the parking lot and boat landing was on a beautiful spring day during the peak of fish migration in Richmond, the place where the Falls of James River meets the tidal waters.  The place was packed, with boat trailers in line for at least a 20-minute wait to drop their boat in the slip and overflow vehicles lining Brander Street and the areas under the Interstate 95 Bridge.

Busy boat ramp at Ancarrow's Landing in downtown RichmondI’m not a fisherman, but I do like to go boating. There are other boat slips further down the James in the tidal waters, closest being Osborne Boat Landing and Deep Bottom Boat Landing in Henrico County and Dutch Gap Conservation Area in Chesterfield County. Osborne Landing might be the closest to downtown Richmond of the three, at nearly eight miles by road. 

Both banks of the James River are packed with fishermen in the springThe parking lot at Ancarrow’s can accommodate approximately 100 cars and trailers, but it is the only landing in the city, and the parking area holds less vehicles when almost all of them are pulling a trailer.

If the city were to be able to open a second boat ramp with more available parking, would that be an exciting amenity or overkill? Do you think that area of the James could take many more motorboats? This time of year, it isn’t uncommon to see 100+ boats dropping lines in the area between the Ancarrow’s Landing, the I-95 Bridge and the Mayo Bridge.

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Phil Riggan

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