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RVA BIKE SHARE seems to be dead

Good Morning, RVA is reporting that the RVA BIKE SHARE seems to be dead

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In March 2020 instead of going to the A10 basketball tournament in Brooklyn, me and my friend Jim went for a bike ride on the C&O Canal. 

We’d made the plans over dinner in late February.COVID was in the news before we left but wasn’t a thing. It was a reason to maybe not got to New York, but whatever.

On the 2nd or 3rd day we met some VCU kids on the trail on spring break who were stoked to get an extra week off all of a sudden. My wife texted me while we’re out there that my son’s school was closed for the rest of the week. 

My phone blew up with a bunch of apocolytic headlines and when we got back to Cumberland they were getting ready for St. Patrick's Day and that felt weird. Next week I’m heading out to ride that same route and then some and am so keenly aware of the then and now.

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Westover Hills Bike Lanes and Jahnke Road project meeting on May 25

There will be a meeting on Thursday, May 25th, 2023 at 6PM at Westover Hills Elementary School regarding the Jahnke Road Improvement project and the 161 Bike Lanes.

From the office of Councilperson Nye:

There are two upcoming traffic/pedestrian safety projects in the 4th District – the Jahnke Road Improvement Project and 161 Bike Lanes Project. As such, the 4th District Office is co-hosting a community meeting with the Department of Public Works – the purpose of this meeting is for DPW to share all relevant information about the project and for attendees to be able to provide feedback and ask questions directly to the DPW staff working on these projects. While the bike lanes project is likely most germane to the residents affiliated with Bike Walk RVA, the Jahnke Road Improvement Project will have a direct impact on bike/pedestrian safety as well.

Prior to the meeting, attendees might want to review the following materials:

Jahnke Road Improvement Project: DPW has project details at this link on their website and also provided this report for dissemination prior to the meeting. DPW staff will review the report in detail at the meeting and we will provide physical copies of it as well.

161 Bike Lanes: The updated bike lanes proposal and survey can be found at this link. As a reminder, DPW previously released a bike lanes proposal and conducted a round of community feedback – that feedback was then incorporated into this re-design. Therefore, residents are encouraged to review the new proposal and complete the new survey, even if they participated in the previous round. The survey closes on June 1st, giving residents who attend the meeting a full week to provide their feedback.

For convenience and visibility, we created a Facebook event so interested residents could have another method to get reminders and share meeting details.

Should residents have any questions or concerns, they are welcome to contact the 4th District Office via email (kristen.nye@rva.gov; timmy.siverd@rva.gov) or phone (804-646-5646).

To help maximize awareness of this meeting, would you be able to help share this information with members of Bike Walk RVA who live in the 4th District? If you need anything from our office at any point prior to this meeting, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Timmy

Timmy Siverd

Liaison for The Honorable Kristen M. Nye Vice President, Richmond City Council Councilmember, Richmond Southwest 4th Voter District 900 E. Broad St., Suite 305 Richmond, VA 23219 Office: 804-646-5646 Mobile: 804-767-0841

Timmy.Siverd@rva.gov

Sign up for the 4th District Newsletter! Follow Councilmember Nye on Facebook!

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Ready to make a delivery

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great photo from Saturday’s meet-up by Barry Greene AKA density dad

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SO MANY MORE DAYS OF EVENTS for RVA BIKE MONTH

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RVA Cargo Bike Meet-Up / May 6, 2023

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old bike, old mural - maybe 2017?

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Over 60 events in May for the 10th RVA BIKE MONTH

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TODAY IS THE DAY

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A safe bike route connecting Bon Air to Forest Hill would be nice

Just starting to look into what Chesterfield County is doing for bike/walk stuff. They have a Bikeways and Trails Plan that looks to be 5 or 6 years old.

I'm most interested in how Bon Air will connect to the city - this is a frequent commute of mine and there isn't a good route. Looks like there is a proposed "Separate Shared Use" route from Huguenot that would connect to an "On or Along Road" route at Jahnke. This would then connect to the city's lanes on Jahnke to Forrest Hill. Haven't seen that there is an actual  plan or $$$ for this though. 

The "Bon Air Special Area Plan" from 2015 shows a sidewalk along Forest Hill. But seems to also be more a wishlist than anything with a plan or $$$. 

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7 Southside bike/walk projects that I hope to live long enough to see happen

Jahnke Road improvements - multi-use path and sidewalk 

Traffic Calming on Forest Hill - bump-outs, pedestrian islands

Bike Lanes on Forest Hill - west of Jahnke to the highway

Missing Link Trail - connect Reedy Creek to Potterfield Bridge

Bike Lanes on Westover Hills Boulevard - south of the Nickel Bridge

Fall Line Trail - trail from Petersburg to Ashland

James River Branch Trail - rails to trails that would run from near George Wythe HS to Richmond Highway, eventually connect to Fall Line Trail

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Q: Is it illegal to ride my bike on the sidewalk? A: The City of Richmond does not have a local ordinance prohibiting bicycling on sidewalks. BUT, if riding on a sidewalk you must yield to pedestrians, and should ride slowly. Colliding with motorists at intersections is a leading cause of crashes because motorists aren’t expecting a bike entering the crosswalk at high speed, especially when travelling against traffic.

FAQ, City of Richmond Public Works

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This part of Forest Hill Avenue could have bike lanes by 2031

Did you know that VDOT's PSAP 3.0 has this corridor as Top 1% Statewide for highest risk of Bicycle and Pedestrian crashes? That sounds bad, but there is a plan to make this stretch of Forest Hill not suck.

Read on and get excited but also keep in mind that the projected $40M project is not yet fully funded ($14M secured through CVTA Regional Funding). Oh - and the schedule has this being completed in 2031 :(

From C Forest Hill Avenue Phase II Improvements sent by Michael B. Sawyer, City Transportation Engineer on 3/17/2023:

“This project will improve multimodal safety and operations along the one mile stretch of Forest Hill Avenue from Powhite Parkway to Dorchester Road. The project will provide a raised median for access management where there is not one today, improved dedicated turn lanes, 5’ sidewalk with 4’ buffer along the eastbound side of the corridor where there is none today, 5’ bike lanes with 2’ buffer in both directions, crossing accommodations at 3 intersections, bike, pedestrian, and transit access improvements at ten transit stops, and other streetscape amenities including lighting.”

I’ve recently started pushing for sidewalk ramps to be installed along this corridor as a short term fix that would make a nice difference. 

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Sidewalk ramps at these intersections would make a huge difference

I would like a safe, direct bike route from Forest Hill to Bon Air. At is exists now, part of the route has bike lanes, part has a rideable sidewalk, part is on the shoulder of a relatively fast suburban road, and there are 2 highway crossings.

The first stretch - from Westover Hills Boulevard to Powhite Parkway - is an area where I’m personally uncomfortable riding with the vehicular traffic, and there is no way a less experienced rider or child would ride on street.

There is a somewhat rideable sidewalk on one side of the road that could be fairly easily much improved. Improvements here would connect this section to areas of Forest Hill Avenue to the east and west that have bike lanes, and to the schools, grocery store, library, drug stores, bike shop, and other services that are located  in either direction.

The problem is that none of the 5 intersections (Leicester/Langdon/Riverside/Pineway/Fairlee) have access ramps. Installing access ramps would go a long way towards making this a useful cycling route along Forest Hill Avenue. As it is, the lack of ramps makes this a slow and awkward ride at best, and almost impossible for a less experienced rider. 

Want to help? Here are the 5 RVA311 requests to get the ramps installed: https://www.rva311.com/rvaone#/request/detail/new_cs221019185025/DPW000136503 https://www.rva311.com/rvaone#/request/detail/new_cs221019185025/DPW000136502

https://www.rva311.com/rvaone#/request/detail/new_cs221019185025/DPW000136501

https://www.rva311.com/rvaone#/request/detail/new_cs221019185025/DPW000136500

https://www.rva311.com/rvaone#/request/detail/new_cs221019185025/DPW000136499

The Forest Hill Avenue and Powhite crossing is whole different mess. Observe the desire path around the BIKE LANE sign. 

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McClellan cleans up in special election

Jennifer McClellan has become the first Black woman elected to Congress from Virginia, defeating perennial Republican challenger Leon Benjamin (74.22% 80,751 / 25.68% 27,941) in a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Donald McEachin.

Leon Benjamin, a pastor at New Life Harvest Church on Belt Boulevard. ran for Richmond City City Council’s 9th District in 2016, coming in 2nd with 22% (Jones 57%) on a multi-candidate slate. Benjamin ran for this same 4th Congressional District seat representing a slightly different version of the district in 2020, taking 38% of the vote (Donald McEachin 61%). In November 2022 Benjamin lost again to McEachin 35% to 65%. Benjamin has refused to acknowledge his first loss to McEachin or Trump’s loss in 2020, and was in DC for “Stop the Steal” on Jan.6, 2001.