Apparently there’s a rather nasty wreck @ Forest Hill and Hathaway involving a vehicular rollover and possible fire. Not sure how it’s affecting things overall, but you may want to take that into account this afternoon…

Northbound Powhite near the Jahnke Rd interchange will have a brief but complete shutdown tomorrow late-morning. A sign installation will require the closure, for which an exact time has not been announced, but RMA officials suggest in the 10-11AM area.

The GRTC is holding 2 public meetings to discuss routes recently announced as being up for elimination. Two affected routes- The 65 Stony Point-MCV Express and the 61 Broad Rock Shuttle- service our immediate areas. The meetings are 3PM tomorrow, July 22 and 6PM July 28, both in Council Chambers on the 2nd floor or City Hall.

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It’s pothole repair time again, which means the Huguenot Bridge is closed this Sunday, 6AM-6PM.

The new express lane system is being tested on the Powhite today, 10:30-2ish. No word whether any lane closures or delays are expected, but be forewarned…

Starting tomorrow, northbound Powhite’s gonna be a rush-hour parking lot:

Motorists traveling northbound through the Powhite Parkway mainline toll plaza will experience significant morning rush hour delays beginning Tuesday, June 3, as toll lanes are reduced from nine to six lanes. The three-lane closure marks the beginning of the northbound installation of the Open Road Toll (ORT) lanes, also known as express lanes. This traffic situation is expected to last for 90 days.

Let the good times roll!

The 2nd of this month’s 4th District meetings is tonight, 7PM, at Crestwood Presbyterian Church. The meeting’s focus will be the Jahnke Rd widening project, though something tells me that the buzz over a certain other hot-button issue might well come up as well.

Two 4th District meetings will be held in May. Wednesday May 14th’s meeting (7PM, St Luke Lutheran Church) will discuss plans to widen Forest Hill Avenue. The May 21st meeting (7PM, Crestwood Presbyterian Church) meeting will address proposed widening of Jahnke Rd.

From the DPW:

All lanes of Canal Street between 7th Street and 9th Street and all lanes of 8th Street between Franklin Street and Cary Street will be closed from 6 a.m. to Noon on Saturday, May 10. These closures will be needed for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The southbound lanes of the Manchester Bridge will also be closed for the race from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. The northbound lanes of the bridge will not be closed.

Motorists are encouraged to avoid these areas during the closure times or to be prepared for traffic delays associated with detours. The 14th Street Bridge and the Lee Bridge are alternatives for motorists who need to go south of the James River during the closure.

As of 5:45ish, the entry ramp from eastbound Forest Hill to northbound Powhite was open to traffic again.

Richmond.com answers more questions…

VDOT is dropping many road & transportation projects over the next few years (38+ in the Richmond area alone), but the silver lining is that the new Huguenot Bridge will go ahead as planned. Hearings are scheduled to discuss the new plan, with the Richmond meeting coming April 23 @ VDOT HQ downtown.

…that, despite what you might have heard on the radio or TV news, the new Southbound Powhite express lanes are not yet open. July 21 is the target open date.

Why Richmond, Why takes on a little Nickel Bridge history.

No, the ramp isn’t opening earlier. Sorry to get your hopes up. According to the RMA:

• Demolition of part of the current southbound toll plaza starts Friday, 6PM
• The new southbound toll plaza opens Saturday (no time specified)
• Converting the rest of the existing plaza to express toll lanes

Unless it rains, in which case everything gets bumped a week or so. But whenever it happens, expect delays, and try not to think of the toll increases.

The 2 week reprieve for German School Rd ends today. See the (linked) previous post for detour information.

Really they do. So on the heels of the Powhite ramp closure, which has made drive-time trips through the interchange area resemble a suburban take on The Road Warrior, the RMA hopes you’ll still love them now that they’re raising tolls. In September, tolls at the Powhite Pkwy and Downtown Expressway main plazas will increase to 70 cents. The RMA has suggested ramp prices will increase, but hasn’t provided any details, nor have they mentioned increases at the Boulevard Bridge.

Gas prices rising, toll plaza increases…too bad I can’t take a GRTC bus to Carytown without going downtown first. But that’s another story…

Improvements to the Reedy Creek drainage system kick off Monday, March 10, and will result in the closure of West German School Road between Midlothian Turnpike and Deter Road for approximately four months. The full Dept. of Public Works press release and map of the recommended detour appear below the fold.

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The new regulations & fines associated with trash can removal have prompted a fair amount of controversy and confusion. Acting Director of the Department of Public Works Rosemary Green discusses the new situation in more detail.

On March 11, the on ramp from Eastbound Forest Hill to Northbound Powhite Parkway will close for roughly 6 weeks as part of the Powhite toll plaza reconfiguration. The RMA suggests Chippenham South to Powhite and/or the Boulevard Bridge as detours. Alas, I’m expecting lots of last-minute u-turn attempts during rush hour…

This morning’s water main failure along Semmes is still under repair, but Richmond DPU says that water service will be restored soon, if it’s not back on already. Additionally, the permanent fix should be in place by this evening, but not likely in time to open all lanes of Semmes back up for the evening commute.

Today’s T-D “Street Beat” addresses two issues not quite in our neighborhoods, but close enough to be of interest: road construction at Forest Hill @ Huguenot, and missing Chippenham sings @ Jahnke Rd.

A reader just alerted us to yet another Forest Hill/Jahnke Rd wreck, and that it “looks really bad” and “someone has to be hurt.”

Sigh.

Following a 9PM crash at Forest Hill/Jahnke that left 2 cars in shambles (but no injuries as far as I could tell), a second Forest Hill crash, just east of the Powhite, has left one person dead.

Today’s T-D is reporting that the Huguenot Bridge replacement project will be moved up and could open a year sooner than originally announced. A public hearing willl be held Nov. 13, 4:30-7:30 PM at Bon Air Elementary School, just across the city-Chesterfield line.