Richmond is a city where growth and expansion never seem to end.
Richmond is a city where growth and expansion never seem to end. From the borders of what was once a very rural Goochland, to the ever-developing Southside, people are planting roots here in Virginia’s capitol. And with new housing developments, business parks and bi-ways being created regularly, it’s no wonder that transportation has become one of the key elements in determining where a new business should be established.
Whether it is a public bus, a company car, or a personal bike, a person has to reach their destination.
So to examine this idea The University of Richmond opened up a new exhibit at its downtown campus entitled “Transportation Today and Tomorrow: Envisioning a Greater Richmond”.
Emily Onufer, an Environmental Studies major attending UofR, is responsible for overseeing the creation of this exhibition.
“We spent a lot of time gathering information from city documents past and present,” Onufer said. “Getting to meet a lot of locals who have seen the city grow throughout the years also gave me a better perspective on where the city is heading.”
The gallery of photos, maps, key information, and testimonials all contribute to the idea that as Richmond grows so should the accessibility of some forms of public transportation outside of roads for cars.
While bike lanes and paths are being established little by little within the city, we still are ####finding that cars are the most common means for people to get from one place to another.
And what I discovered from the tour is that the Richmond, as of a 2005 “Per Capita Carbon Emissions from Transportation and Residential Energy” study from the Brookings institute, Richmond is in the top 100 US cities for carbon footprints. This should put up some red flags for environmentalists throughout the community,and hopefully encourage the city to take more serious action in creating legislation that will pressure the development of more eco-friendly vehicles.
Trip Pollard, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), has served as the educational advisor for the exhibit. Apart from his regular duties as the leader of UofR’s Land and Community Program, Pollard has an active role in working with government officials to ensure the state does everything within its power to safely improve communities.
Pollard comments that, “while we know the environment is fragile in many ways, we also understand that expansion is inevitable. The process of adjusting landscapes to fit the needs of a community can be tricky business.”
And while we constantly see roadwork being done throughout the city, it can frequently be disheartening not knowing how the transformation of bi-ways is going to affect us on a daily basis.
As a native of Richmond and long time visitor of the downtown area, I regularly see biking as a viable means of navigating through the traffic, construction and roadway obstructions.
“A car or bus can’t get me where I need to go as fast as my bike”, says one cyclist whose testimonial is featured in exhibit.
But that’s not to say that Richmond has only condensed travelers. One statistic that was discovered through the research for this exhibit was that the Richmond region has the highest driving rate in Virginia: 32.6 miles/person/day. So people do quite a bit of commuting from the Richmond suburbs to the inner city or even other counties that are considered a part of the capitol region.
Local artist and photographer Dean Whitbeck helped the UofR team in capturing the city streets during peak hours, in order to show to exhibit patrons just how busy Richmond can get. “It was a great opportunity for me to capture areas of Richmond I was bit less familiar with”, says Whitbeck. “The city is always changing, and it’s eye opening to discover just how congested things have gotten.”
So even as a city that can claim the title of having one of the first electric public transportation systems, Richmond has evidently outgrown its ability to provide quick and easy methods of moving from one area of town to another.
Perhaps the city’s new Bus Rapid Transit system will help – but this exhibit is a good place to start.
“Transportation Today and Tomorrow: Envisioning a Greater Richmond” runs now through Jan. 13th at University of Richmond’s Downtown campus, 626 E. Broad Street.
