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“Worst Road in Richmond”

Featured Image: Sonny Raymond

This past April, John Donegan from RVA Magazine, wrote about Union Hill’s Carrington Street. He deemed it the “worst road in Richmond”. Here’s a passage:

Motivated by the city-wide monument discussion and signs of road improvement in sync with the recently adopted Vision Zero plan last October, there was optimism that the Carrington Street Review would gain some traction. Yet once presented to the city, the response couldn’t be more Richmond.

Citing a Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) study from two years ago, Richmond Public Works – the agency tasked with road upkeep – found that “less than 100 drivers” go through the whole length of Carrington Street in a day so “not an issue”.

But there is a nefarious technicality within all this. If one were only counting people who drove the entire course of Carrington Street, the number wouldn’t be problematic. According to Raymond, if one were to include the number of people driving along the numerous intersections across the street, 100 would turn into around 3,000 in any given day. “There’s probably a thousand people who cross Carrington at the intersections every day,” he said

There is now a survey being circulated. If you’d like to give your opinion on the potential repairs and upkeep, then fill out this survey.

18 comments

Mark A. Olinger 05/16/2018 at 6:22 AM

Still terrible, but so much potential…

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David Seibert 05/16/2018 at 6:56 AM

The City told us that the road doesn’t get enough traffic to repair it. It might be the worst road in Richmond. Of course it doesn’t get much traffic. I live on this road and barely drive on it. I want to drive on it! But I avoid it because it’s so bad.

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Eric Dunn 05/16/2018 at 7:08 AM

Carrington Street would be a logical route for me to take some places, but I don’t drive on it because it’s in such horrendous condition. I’d imagine many other drivers avoid Carrington for the same reason, so the low number of cars using the street is not really evidence of the street being a “non-issue” IMO.

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Tim H 05/16/2018 at 7:13 AM

Here’s a thought. Perhaps if it were a better road more people wouldn’t avoid it.

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Katherine Jester 05/16/2018 at 7:40 AM

Of course no one drives through there, because it’s full of potholes! What kind of pretzel logic is that..?

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Johnathan 05/16/2018 at 7:59 AM

This is why development and rehabilitation in the City is a good thing. If you want the roads fixed then the City needs a tax base to fund the projects. There is no money in empty lots and boarded up buildings.

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Elaine Odell 05/16/2018 at 9:07 AM

Carrington should remain a cobblestone street. IMO, we are fortunate that the street is still comprised (mostly) of cobblestones and provides a tangible experience of what our world was like a century ago.

Union Hill legend says in that in the early 1980’s, the city/state wanted to create a high speed spur to I64 East via the MLK Bridge using Carrington Street as the main thoroughfare. The street was slated to be demolished and widened to 4 lanes, creating a swath of high-speed concrete convenience from downtown to eastern Henrico.

Fortunately, community leaders including Mary Thompson stood up and fought back. They saw what happened to Jackson Ward when urban planners gutted the neighborhood with I95.

The plan for the east end I64 spur was dropped, and Carrington Street remained untouched. Lets consider encouraging–ney, demanding–that the city replace the missing cobblestones as a historic reminder of what our city streets looked like when most of our Union Hill homes were built.

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35th & M 05/16/2018 at 9:38 AM

MLK Bridge straight to O St to Carrington to 25th to Nine Mile Rd should be one of the main thouroufares on the east end of Richmond.

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Julian 05/16/2018 at 11:09 AM

Lets not forget that the only reason we have cobblestones on Monument Avenue is because an elderly woman came out of her house on the day the paving was supposed to take place and laid down in the middle of the street in front of her home. What made the streets of Church Hill unique were the cobblestone streets that once lined the area. Several years ago a prevailing misguided idea became popular to pave over all the cobblestones in Church Hill. This was endorsed by several prominent community residents and organizations. Lets not forget that the cobblestones were laid by slaves or former slaves. We cannot pave over history. “Keep Carrington Cobble” Please keep the cobblestones and our history. We also don’t need anymore bike lines in Church Hill. People think that by taking away parking Richmonders will walk or take Uber? No they’ll just go some where else.

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bill 05/16/2018 at 11:51 AM

300 block of cedar st (old 19 st) between east broad and marshall, is the worst stretch of road in the city. Carrington is fine as a cobblestone street. you just drive a little slower.

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Resident 05/16/2018 at 12:07 PM

Take a moment to fill out the survey. Also everybody see click fix it. Email newbille….again and again and again. Complaining to ourselves wont fix it. There are trees going out of the curb and gutter at 21st and P st.

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nadine 05/16/2018 at 1:32 PM

I think this street should remain cobblestoned.

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Dave Seibert 05/16/2018 at 6:50 PM

To be clear I definitely want this street to remain cobblestone. It’s One of the fun things about living on it! Just want it to be in half decent condition like Cary St or Monument or other nice cobblestone streets.

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Red 05/17/2018 at 7:12 AM

“Common sense is like deodorant: those who need it the most never use it”
Anonymous

There are not many good reasons to casually give out your email address – but presented here is a survey from an un-named source asking for, but not requiring, respondent email addresses about a city street that’s been neatly cut in half and therefore untravelable in its entire length for a nearly a year by ongoing construction of a low income housing project.

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Fred Wilkinson 05/17/2018 at 9:02 AM

Richmond needs two more bike races and three subsidized breweries to fix this.

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Nick Burdyck 05/17/2018 at 12:50 PM

Worst street my vote goes to Oliver Hill Way…

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Resident 05/18/2018 at 6:10 AM

Anybody see click fix it yet? Or contact the city?

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Sonny 05/22/2018 at 8:49 PM

This topic will be presented at the Union Hill Civic Association meeting in June by Dave and myself. We are working on forming a coalition between Civic Associations, private developers, community organizations like the BHC, and of course individual residents directly affected. We are looking for a positive AND open mindset rather than a NIMBY philosophy. If you are interested in becoming involved please reach out to me at hugheyraymond@gmail.com

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