RECENT COMMENTS
New traffic circle on 25th Street will open on Wednesday
From the press release:
Richmond, VA – The City’s Department of Public Works has completed work on a new roundabout at the intersection of 25th Street, Nine Mile Road and Fairmont in Churchill. Plans for the roundabout were part of the corridor improvements presented in the East End Transformation Plan. Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Richmond City Councilwoman Cynthia Newbille, East End 7th Voter District, will announce the opening of the roundabout at National Night Out festivities in Churchill tonight.
“I’m so pleased that we are seeing many of the things the community talked about during the Church Hill visioning process come into being,” said Mayor Jones. “Step by step, we are bringing about changes in housing, infrastructure, health and education and this roundabout project beautifies this anchor corridor providing a welcomed makeover that will improve traffic flow and safety.”
“The 25th Street and Nine Mile Road corridor is an important commercial gateway for the East End/7th District,” commented Councilwoman Cynthia Newbille. “There has been comprehensive community informed planning for our district and this project is a reflection of that. We look forward to more improvements in the very near future.”
The roundabout will open to traffic on August 5, 2015. The intersection will no longer be controlled by traffic signals; instead, the new roundabout provides a circular intersection with yield control for entering traffic, splitter islands on the approaches, and appropriate roadway curvature to reduce vehicle speeds. Minor work will continue to include ornamental and overhead street lighting installation.
The City constructed this project using Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program funds and the total cost of the project was $1,100,000.
Thanks for posting…will make sure to stay away. The other traffic circles on Marshall and Clay do nothing to calm traffic. Rarely have I seen a vehicle even show an appearance of approaching with caution.
This looks really good. The cost is kind of crazy but this is a nice improvement that should last a long time!
I think there’s a problem with how we talk about these things. Traffic Circles and roundabouts are not necessarily the same thing. (Arguably, the mini-roundabouts throughout the neighborhood are their own thing as well)
I’m not as bothered by the large scale roundabouts, but the mini-roundabouts are strangely designed/signed.(I.e one street has right of way, the other has yield signs). It’s unclear at the mini-roundabouts who has the right of way in the event of a u-turn (at least, to me).
I think the problem is that drivers tend to assume that they all function the same way
Don’t let the traffic circles on Marshall, M, etc, sully your expectation of this roundabout: very different things. The size of this is going to make it effective, and I’m excited to no longer have to wait 5 minutes for my light to change.
Anyone who has been in Church Hill a whole can tell you that the roundabout at M and 25th is a huge improvement to the collection of traffic lights that was once there.
This is a really good thing, folks. Those traffic circles… I hate them too, I’m most hit weekly. But this roundabout will be wonderful.
This new roundabout is the best thing to happen in Church Hill in a long time. In the pass, when you missed the light at the one of those corners, and then have to wait for the others to go is torture. I am super excited. I can’t control the way others use it, but i will proceed with caution and move swiftly!
I’m from church hill and I don’t like it
Aww man, I’m so bummed I’m out of town this week & won’t be there to see the first accident.
Classic ChurchHillian comments:
“Build it, and they will bitch.”
I guess i thought that The Hill was repleat with some pretty darn smart folks. Just not smart enough to matriculate a roundabout??
Sheesh.
Here’s another dumb thing the city has done. Last year they repaved Fairmount just to dig it up a month later. That 1.1 mil should have been used to improve the infrastructure in that area. All I can say is I’m looking forward to the accidents.
Really.!! People don’t know how to drive now. What makes them think they know what to do about a roundabout?… $1million dollars wasted why. The greenery will be destroyed by the cars.
The City of Richmond management is hard to understand. First it was a good idea to close Franklin Street going thru the train station. So money was spent to close the street. Now it is a good idea to have Franklin street open so money is being spent to open it.
The “Circle Shopping Center” on Hull Street had a very large traffic circle, but the City decided to remove it. Now the City is spending more money to put it back. There are more examples.
If you don’t like the Traffic circle/roundabout on 25th st, wait a few years and the City will take it out.
If you dont know, now you know.
http://www.virginiadot.org/info/faq-roundabouts.asp
@Neighbor: Good start, but still doesn’t really address the mini-roundabouts.The linked website includes an inventory of roundabouts throughout the state, and while the new roundabout at 25th and nine mile is included, the mini roundabouts throughout the neighborhood are not. Which has me wondering if they are legally distinct and if there is any applicable state code specifying how they are supposed to work.
By design, they function differently than a full size roundabout (I.e. All directions do not yield or stop, unclear if a car turning left is considered to be “traffic in the circle”,
If you controlled the purse strings for Richmond, would YOU have spent $1.1 million on this? Seriously?
@35 If you read the post the money came from the Federal Government. I doubt the city had much control other than to say yes build it or no built it in some other city. It’s not as if highway funds could be spent on schools or the city’s operating budget. Even if it is only a marginal improvement in the traffic operation, it still meant work for local construction firms. This may not be a great system at the national level, but from the city’s perspective, take the money and run.
Don’t know if it’s worth $1.1 million, but it’s a HUGE improvement.
I’m not going to lie…I did go for a joy ride around this sucker yesterday and it was great!!!
I’m trying to understand all of the comments citing the difficulty in navigating these round a bouts. They’re easy… Yield to the traffic in the circle and jump in when it’s clear. They work well all over the country. Speed control is a given due to driving through the circle.
This is nothing like the existing planting circles on Marshall or Leigh. I agree that those are ineffective and should be controlled with a 4 way stop. They would serve to slow traffic down without blowing through the stop sign.
Can anyone find how much the city spent on this. I see that state and fed grants were “used” to build this, but lets not assume that we got a combined grant totaling $1.1mil. I’m just curious about how much came out of our pocket, and apparently I’m not smart enough to find the public record.