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The big plan for BRT in the Richmond region

Greater Greater Washington recently published a great overview of what the BRT means to Richmond and what the system could look like in a few years:

Thus, step three: The full 80-mile BRT network. If it becomes reality, five lines will fan out from downtown Richmond, covering all its major urban neighborhoods and several important suburban areas.

After the Broad Street line, there would be a second line west of downtown, through the heart of Richmond’s fabulous Fan neighborhood. Another line would go northeast to Mechanicsville. Two more would cross the James River south into Manchester before splitting, one to Midlothian and Westchester, the other to Brandermill.

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Richmond’s New Growth Corridor from Bacon’s Rebellion is a good related read:

After a half-century of decline, the city’s demographic fortunes kicked into growth gear again. As young people and empty nesters flocked to the metropolitan region’s urban core, the population rebounded to 210,000 by 2015.

That upward trend is far from spent, says Mark Olinger, the city’s planning director. Indeed, if no big issue arises, such as a spike in the crime rate, he says, “I can see the city getting up to 300,000 by 2037.”

If he’s right, such a surge would represent one of the biggest booms in the city’s 235-year history. The idea is not implausible. Following a national pattern, Millennials crave the excitement of life and work at the urban center, real estate developers are building housing to accommodate them, and employers are following the workforce. The real estate action in the Richmond metropolitan area tight now is in the city, not the once-dominant suburban counties of Henrico and Chesterfield.

10 comments

Dave Seibert 08/07/2017 at 8:52 AM

Would love to see this go to the airport.

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Katherine J 08/07/2017 at 10:12 AM

@ Dave: Wouldn’t that be nice..!! Couldn’t we at least have a shuttle from Main Street Station to the airport?
Has anyone ever heard the reasons why we don’t?

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Wendy Smith 08/07/2017 at 10:31 AM

What about areas east of the city? Eastern Henrico County is totally left out.

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ray 08/07/2017 at 10:48 AM

Agree about Eastern Henrico. Seems this could alleviate some of the Route 5 traffic to and from downtown that so many complain about. A spur from the airport connecting to a Route 5 BRT could be part of this.

That said, nothing, beyond what’s being built now, is happening anytime soon. Always can dream, though.

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Chloe 08/07/2017 at 11:23 AM

@wendy and ray, GRTC is jointly controlled (50/50) by Chesterfield county and Richmond city, and Henrico has historically not been a fan of transit(paying for it OR having it even exist!), so getting something out to the airport or eastern Henrico is likely a big stretch!

Not that this makes it okay or right, but probably a tactical discision to exclude potential pain points from a proposal that comes with no obligation to fund.

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Hill Runner 08/07/2017 at 1:28 PM

The full plan can be found at this website: http://rvatransitvision.com/

It does include a route described as “Enhanced Local Service” (15-min frequency) to serve Route 60 between downtown and the airport.

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Tim Parker 08/07/2017 at 1:44 PM

@Everyone, if you look at the new GRTC plan that has been released for months and is shown in the linked article, you will see that the proposed #56 will go to the airport and drop off downtown. While it says it will be at peak times only it’s definitely a start

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ray 08/07/2017 at 2:09 PM

The current BRT route in construction begins and ends in Henrico and the county did make an investment in the project.

Both Supervisors in the 2 districts in Eastern Henrico are big supporters of public transit as their less affluent constituents would greatly benefit from these services. And, I suspect if the Democrat wins in the seat to replace the longtime, less progressive Supervisor who recently died, that the Board will, for the first time, have a pro public transit majority.

Chesterfield is a whole ‘nother matter………..

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