Good morning, RVA: What will we do to make our streets safer?

Will our City’s leadership take what we know—that these are dangerous, fast
streets—and implement quick fixes to keep people from dying?

Good morning, RVA! It's 44 °F and drizzly. Later this morning, though, the drizzle should dry up and, even later, the sun might come out. Enjoy it however you can, because the next couple of days look wet and increasingly cold.

Water cooler

This past Friday morning, just before 9:00 AM, a driver hit and killed a 22-year-old VCU student at the intersection of N. Laurel and W. Main Street. I don’t know any of the specifics of this tragic incident, but I do know that drivers treat Main Street like a highway, speeding their way east from downtown, because the physical design of the street allows it. In fact, around the same time this student was killed for simply crossing a street on their college campus, I was writing “We’ve got to do something to discourage folks from using Main/Cary as a toll-free version of the Downtown Expressway.” Everyone, students especially, know Cary and Main Streets are dangerous, the question now is what will we do to make those streets safer for the thousands of students who criss-cross it daily? Anything? Will our City’s leadership take what we know—that these are dangerous, fast streets, as noted in the City’s own High Injury Street Network Map—and implement quick fixes to keep people from dying? Or will we look around, shrug our shoulders, and talk about how nothing could have been done to prevent this student’s death? If you’re fed up, you can find contact information for the Department of Public Works leadership and your City Council representative on this spreadsheet.

Richmond BizSense’s Jonathan Spiers reports that the proposed amphitheater down by the river has had its launch date pushed back to spring 2025. That’s two full years from now, but you should still tap through today to see a bunch of cool renderings of what the space will potentially look like. Also, check out this incredible sentence: “Existing parking in the area is expected to accommodate the venue.” No new parking! For a 7,500-seat venue! I feel like this is a major accomplishment in shifting the mindset of Richmonders Who Build Big Things!

Take some time this morning to read Samantha Willis’s update on the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground in the Virginia Mercury. Lenora McQueen‘s one-woman effort to bend the proposed DC2RVA high-speed rail project around this historic site reminds me a lot of Sixth Mount Zion’s successful work in the 1950s to reroute I-95 and save their building.

Em Holter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch answers a question I had about ORD. 2023-029, the ordinance that tweaks the City’s scooter policies. Holter says that the equitable distribution piece of the ordinance—requiring vendors to deploy 20% of their scooters on the Southside—only applies if scooter vendors want to exceed the 500-scooter maximum. So, not really that much of a requirement at all. Once this passes, and I feel like it should pass pretty easy as it currently sits on the Consent Agenda, we’ll have to see if any existing scooter vendor even wants to exceed that 500-scooter cap.

As part of the work finalize their 2045 Comprehensive Plan, Henrico County has put together two opportunities for folks to get involved. First, a “drop a pin on a map”-style survey. I don’t love these sorts of things because who even knows where stuff is on a map (other than map nerds who build surveys like this), but please get in there if you’d like to point out issues that need fixing related to land use, transportation, public facilities and safety, public utilities, and the environment. Second, and I think this is neat, a “meeting in a box.” Download the aforelinked PDF and you get some background information, facts and figures, and a half-dozens discussion questions—everything you need to have your best pals over for a fun evening of Comprehensive Plan chat. After what’s sure to be a thrilling time, you can pack up everyone’s thoughts and feelings and send them off to the County. Simple, cute, fun—I’m into it!

This morning's longread
Pickup Trucks: From Workhorse To Joyride

I think readers of this email newsletter know most of everything in this piece from Axios about the dangers of huge trucks. Still, tap through for a really lovely illustration of how uselessly small truckbeds have become over the last couple of decades.

Yet pedestrian and road safety advocates say today's massive trucks are a hazard, given their size, weight and driver blind spots. In the 1980s, about half of pickup trucks were categorized as small or midsize, but by the 2010s small pickups had nearly vanished and fullsize trucks dominated. Today, midsize trucks are making a comeback, but fullsize still make up a majority of sales.With jumbo trucks, you’d think people were hauling and towing more than ever — not so. Survey data from vehicle research firm Strategic Vision shows a third of today’s pickup owners rarely or never use their truck for hauling, while two thirds rarely or never use it for towing. So what are people using their trucks for? Shopping, errands, commuting and Sunday drives.

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Picture of the Day

Suburban wasteland.