Richmond speeds up street safety plan after pedestrian deaths
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City Hall plans to work quickly to make city streets safer following two pedestrian fatalities in just over a week, Mayor Avula announced Monday.
Why it matters: Within 24 hours of his announcement, a third pedestrian was killed walking in Richmond.
State of play: On Tuesday afternoon, the driver of a dump truck hit a man in his 60s who was in a crosswalk at Harrison and Leigh streets near Carver Elementary, WTVR reports. He later died at the hospital.
- He was the 15th pedestrian killed in Richmond in the past year, and died just days after a woman died in a hit-and-run on Semmes Avenue.
- Valentine museum director Bill Martin was killed in a crosswalk on Broad Street on Dec. 27.
What they're saying: "I urge every driver: slow down, put your phone away. We cannot accept traffic deaths as normal," Avula said in a statement Monday.
- Avula said he asked his team to "identify urgent opportunities" to make South Richmond streets safer.
- He also tasked Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald with taking "immediate actions" to improve the Broad and 10th intersection downtown, where Martin was killed.
- Longer-term infrastructure improvements, like curb extensions and protected bike lanes, are in the works through the city's Vision Zero plan, he added.
Stunning stat: Intersections are particularly dangerous in Richmond, accounting for 82% of all fatal and serious injury crashes in the city since 2017, according to the Department of Public Works.
Zoom in: DPW was already working on a citywide project to make intersections safer using paint and signs so it can test and refine the ideas and placements.
- The agency is asking locals to weigh in on the possible improvements via two surveys.
The temporary ideas DPW is hoping to test include:
- Protected intersections
- Roundabouts
- Bump-outs / Curb Extensions
- Median islands
- Left-turn hardening
- Enhanced or increased signs, pavement markings, crosswalks, corner clearances
- High-visibility crosswalks
Potential placement for some of them include:
- Hioaks and Jahnke roads
- Belmont and Iron Bridge roads
- Oliver Hill Way and Venable Street
- 18th and Venable streets
- Patterson and Malvern avenues
- Brook Road and Brookland Parkway
- Forest Hill Avenue and Westover Hills Boulevard
But dozens of intersections across Richmond are being considered for some kind of safety enhancement, per DPW.
The bottom line: Changes are coming.