RICHMOND, Va. — Drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians passing through Hermitage Road and Laburnum Avenue are forced to slow down due to the city’s new “Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper (LQC)” project.
White and yellow flexible posts alongside traffic-calming curb and median extensions jut out in the middle of the busy Northside intersection outside Linwood Holton Elementary.
This is one of several LQC projects designed by the Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility (OETM), a division within the Department of Public Works (DPW), in response to traffic safety concerns across the city.
The lane changes come after the city removed the A.P. Hill Confederate statue in 2022 from the middle of the busy intersection.
Richmond Public Schools Safe Routes to Schools Coordinator Tara Fitzpatrick said that, with and without the statue, the intersection was one of the most dangerous in the city.
“There was an average of 28 crashes per year and 8 injury crashes per year in the five years before the removal of the A.P. Hill statue in late 2022. In the one full year of data after removal, there were 8 total crashes and 4 injury crashes, a 71% reduction in crashes that can be attributed to the removal of the statue,” according to an intersection study prepared for the city.
Fitzpatrick said, based on local crash data, there haven’t been any crashes reported at the intersection so far this year.
“I think it's incredible,” she said. “We're seeing that there is a change in driver behavior, and hopefully that will translate all across Laburnum and Hermitage.”
At an April 1 City Council Planning Commission meeting, Planning Director Kevin Vonck said using LQC models allows the city time to address urgent issues with low-cost, temporary interventions prior to securing funding for permanent installations.
“Flex posts are integral to the project. This is testing intersections because it has very large radii and you can fly around the corner. Making the radii smaller requires you to make a smaller turn,” he explained. “Before we go spend tens of thousands of dollars putting in real curbs, we are testing out these flex posts and putting some art behind it.”
The first round of LQC projects is being intentionally installed in front of schools to ensure students get to and from school safely, like one recently completed outside Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School on Mosby Street.
The lane changes will accompany a new street art mural curated by Sam Skrimpz, with designs and concepts inspired by Linwood Holton students.
“Art is creating a sense of place. So that when people say, ‘Hey, what is all that?’ the student or parent can say, ‘Hey, we worked on that, and this is to slow you down when you come through our neighborhood,’” Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility Director Dironna Moore Clarke said at the planning meeting.
Fitzpatrick believed the extra splash of color at the intersection will encourage speeding drivers to second-guess their actions.
“That's going to, I think, make people think as they enter that intersection as a community member. They'll keep that in mind because they were a part of this process, and they can continue to be a part of the process,” she explained.
Another LQC project is underway outside Richmond High School for the Arts on Midlothian Turnpike from 37th Street.
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