Good Times in RVA's Bike/Ped Movement Built on Active Advocates and Signature Projects
By: Brantley Tyndall, Director of Bike Walk RVA
It’s that time of year when bikes are in the air. We’re halfway through 2024, and there has been so much great stuff in the bike and pedestrian space in the Richmond region. Everywhere we look, we see the bike/ped advocacy movement mobilizing to support active transportation policy and infrastructure, educating and encouraging our communities to get involved, and the momentum of the Fall Line building into the central spine of Richmond’s trail-oriented network.
From the bottom of our hearts, thanks for believing in yourselves to make this change and this community possible. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: dream big, ride a lot, and get to know your local government.
Fall Line
This year, the Virginia General Assembly committed $7.5 million to the Fall Line, the first time it has dedicated funds from the State Trails Fund we supported in creating in 2022. This brings the total fundraising for this project to $280 million to date.
Our region celebrated breaking ground on the Northern 5-mile phase in April, bridging the Town of Ashland, Hanover County, and Henrico County, including a bridge across the Chickahominy River.
Public meetings were held for the Fall Line in Bryan Park and for the southern 10-mile phase from Petersburg to Chester in anticipation of these phases being designed and constructed beginning in the next year or so. Exciting! We’re also thrilled at the amount of Fall Line education and programming volunteers included in RVA Bike Month this year. For the second year, Rich Saunders of Richmond Urbanism Happy Hour hosted a big event to cover the Fall Line, this time in Chesterfield with a big crowd to walk part of the alignment and learn about how the project is being developed.
Rich Saunders (center) and Phil Riggan of PlanRVA, (right) share about Fall Line development in Chester.
New Bike Lanes
Richmond has installed some nice new bike lanes in Scott’s Addition and made improvements to the Brook Road bike lane at its southern crossing of the railroad tracks near the underpass of Chamberlayne Ave.
The City is also working on new bike lanes, including the westward extension of the iconic Franklin St. bike lane in downtown, making a better connection to Monroe Park across the major intersection at Belvidere St.
Photo provided by Greater Scott’s Addition Association.
Bike Month
The 11th Annual RVA Bike Month reached new heights and is well above pre-pandemic levels. With over 70 events and 5,700 event participants over 5 weeks, RVA Bike Month continues to be one of the largest programs celebrating National Bike Month in the country, and our model of encouraging grassroots event development is being adopted in other communities in Virginia and even beyond.
Bike Walk RVA Champions led a 100-person ride to tour site of Richmond’s Streetcar history.
Mayo Bridge
The 111-year old Mayo Bridge that joins 14th St. and Hull St. over the James River between Shockoe Bottom and Manchester is scheduled to be totally replaced in the next few years. Bike Walk RVA is working with neighborhood partners to ensure Richmond and Virginia Department of Transportation finally build an adequate bike/ped crossing across this critical hole in the current active transportation network. In particular, connecting the western end of the Virginia Capital Trail to the future Fall Line through Manchester is an excellent opportunity for trail-oriented development and neighborhood vitality.
In May, we co-hosted a packed house event with nearly 200 participants to discuss and advocate for a Livable Mayo Bridge. Thanks to Councilwoman Ellen Robertson and Richmond’s Chief Administrative Officer Lincoln Saunders for joining our team of Shockoe Partnership, Manchester Alliance, SMBW Architects, BridgePark, Marvel Design, and Venture Richmond to share in creating some concepts for what the replacement of the Mayo Bridge should include.
Livable Mayo Bridge event at Studio Two Three.
Richmond Connects
After many years of excellent and diligent equitable engagement and planning, Richmond Connects passed City Council in March. Richmond Connects is Richmond’s multi-modal plan and includes a great vision for bike/ped development in the City. It has an emphasis on equitably outcomes to ensure everyone has access to health and economic opportunity in our active transportation network. Congrats to Richmond’s Department of Public Works for this effort, and we look forward to supporting projects in the plan.