A neighbor took this photo yesterday evening.
This poor guy has been trying to get around this corner for 45 minutes. I don’t see how he can without demolishing the hydrant. Lucky he had a rider guiding him. This is Cherry and Idlewood. I don’t think these streets were designed to accommodate 18 wheelers…
Hollywood Cemetery’s FaceBook page recently featured this old photo courtesy of Brian Ezelle.
It looks like the 400 block of S. Cherry Street.
From an interesting history blogpost about November 26, 1910:
At about 3p.m., John Moisant took off from the Fair Grounds in his Blériot monoplane. He circled the city, even flying over the Virginia State Penitentiary at the request of the Richmond Times-Dispatch to entertain the 1,200 inmates inside. Many other spectators gathered on Oregon Hill to watch the “Man-Bird” in action overhead.
From Richmond.com article:
Many of us in Richmond watched the train tank cars burn as they rested precariously on the banks of the James in Lynchburg and could easily envision the same type of accident happening here in the capital city. What if a few of those highly flammable tanks dropped off the nearly three-miles long CSX Viaduct onto Brown’s Island during Friday Cheers or the Richmond Folk Festival?
…
(Editor’s note: see earlier posts on this subject by clicking here and here.)
The article continues:
For the next session of the General Assembly, the JRA will be pushing for stricter management and oversight and will be asking the public for support for the following issues:
-Rail transport of highly volatile Bakken crude oil from the Midwest. Crude oil by rail transport has increased 450 percent over the past five years. These trains are carrying over a million gallons of crude oil through our watershed two to five times per week. Governor McAuliffe convened a rail safety task force which will solicit input from industry stakeholders, local governments and members of the public and produce a report of recommended state and federal actions to prevent railroad accidents and ensure that Virginia is prepared as possible to keep communities safe in the case of a future incident.
-The James River watershed is home to coal ash ponds capable of holding 5 billion gallons of coal ash stretching from the headwaters to the mouth of the river. Despite being a highly toxic material, Virginia does not regulate coal ash as a solid or hazardous waste product and is not acting to stop contamination from coal ash ponds.
-The storage of the majority of chemicals in Virginia is not covered by any regulatory program. Review current industry practices and determine range of standards. Fill any gaps identified in the existing industry toxic storage policies and procedures with standards that ensure adequate safeguards and inspections for the storage of all chemicals.According to a release, “We must learn from these events and take immediate action to protect public safety, the environment, the economy that the river supports and its recreational value. Our safety requirements and procedures need to be up to date to address current threats and to prevent a crippling event from happening in the future. Now is the time to begin the conversation on how to protect our waterways and our citizens from the threats posed by the storage and transport of hazardous materials.”
If you’d like to have your voice heard, join the forum Wednesday, Nov. 12, from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Virginia War Memorial. Your James River needs you.
From East Coast Greenway:
Virginia
Mount Vernon Trail/Arlington Memorial Bridge, Washington DC to Mt. Vernon, VA; 17 mi
Silverbrook Road Multi-use Trail, Fairfax County; 0.9 mi
Ox Road Multi-use Trail, Fairfax County; 1.1 mi
Richmond Highway Multi-use Trail, Fairfax County: 1 mi
Telegraph Road Multi-use Trail, Fairfax County; 1.3 mi
Fairfax County Parkway Multi-use Trail, Fairfax County; 1.4 mi
Grist Mill Park Multi-use Trail, Fairfax County; 0.4 mi
Virginia Central Railway Trail, Fredericksburg; 1.0 mi
Ashland Railside Park Trail, Ashland; 0.35 mi
Cannon Creek Greenway, Richmond; 0.6 mi
Belle Isle Bridge, Richmond; 0.25 mi
Belle Isle Trail, Richmond; 1.4 mi
Lower Appomattox River Trail, Petersburg; 3.7 mi
Tobacco Heritage Trail, Lawrenceville-LaCrosse-Brodnax; 16.6 mi
Virginia Capital Trail, sections from Richmond to Williamsburg; 8.8 mi
One of the topics covered at Councilperson Parker Agelasto’s meeting on Wednesday night was an update on the Idlewood roundabout project.
City Transportation Engineer Tom Flynn gave a quick background and overview, and then presented the “first, final draft” from engineering/design firm Kimley Horn. Due to some unforeseen costs, the plan right now is to NOT remove the stretch of Grayland at the time of roundabout construction, but leave it with a dead end. Expect this and other points to be covered at a future community meeting.
Riffing off a post from three years ago, will we see a resurgence in high speed rail hopes?
This past Friday, FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo spoke Friday at a Virginians for High-Speed Rail event in Richmond.
Szabo challenged officials in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia to develop a plan for service along the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.
And, tomorrow, there is an opportunity to advocate for better transportation. On Tuesday, June 24 from 12 noon to 6 pm, there is a PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE meeting of the Richmond Area Metropolitan Planning Organization at 9211 Forest Hill Avenue, Suite 200, Richmond, VA 23235. Planning staff from the MPO will be present at the meeting to explain the draft FY 12 – FY 15 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) document and to answer questions. The draft TIP document, still subject to review, is posted on the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission website, www.richmondregional.org.
Andrew McRoberts has written an interesting article in Richmond.com on the “Reasons Richmond Should Love the CSX Railroad Viaduct”.
Excerpts:
The C&O (now CSX) Viaduct is enormously long (about three miles in length). It starts beneath the Robert E. Lee Bridge near Oregon Hill Overlook, and stretches all the way to Nicholson Street and the former Fulton Yard (across Route 5 from Rockett’s Landing in far eastern city of Richmond). It allows a nearly at-grade (level) train crossing of downtown Richmond along the James River and the Great Shiplock for much of its length.
…
In 2014, the viaduct is celebrating 113 years in its existence. And, as you know if you ever visit the riverfront downtown, the viaduct is still in active use by CSX Corporation
Like much of Phil Riggan’s articles in Richmond.com on the James River, this deserves reading.
I can’t help but wonder if this is a bit of public relations on CSX’s part, given recent concerns stemming from the Lynchburg explosion.
But, getting back to the history…The C&O Railroad Viaduct is a treasure, and Richmond residents should be aware of other important railroad history that is now threatened within sight of the Viaduct. A remnant of the Tredegar Branch railroad connecting the iron works on Belle Isle with Tredegar is slated to be destroyed by Venture Richmond for yet another amphitheater. These tracks sit on the towpath of the historic James River and Kanawha Canal. Venture Richmond’s plan is to lower the towpath below the historical level of water in the canal and in the process of irreparably damaging the canal, the old railroad line will also be scrapped. Alternatives, such as putting Venture Richmond’s largest stage on Brown’s Island, already leased to Venture Richmond, were ignored. It is unbelieveable that Venture Richmond is destroying the Tredegar Branch railroad remnant that is within the Tredegar Historic Site.
WTVR CBS 6 recently had a new report on talks with the railroad company and government officials about possibly rerouting the trains that carry the volatile oil around Richmond. This follows the recent disaster in Lynchburg.
Excerpt:
Fire officials define the “worst case scenario” for this situation would involve 33 train cars derailing in Shockoe Bottom.
If that were to happen during peak business hours, the impact could stretch to a half mile radius encompassing hundreds of thousands of people.