The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will hold its second virtual public information meeting July 20 to share data, findings and preliminary recommendations from its speed limit study conducted last fall along 7.8 miles of the Richmond Highway corridor.
The study was designed to assess the existing 45 mile-per-hour speed limit between Belvoir Road/Meade Road and the I-95/495 interchange, and to determine whether the limit should be changed now for safety reasons based on current road and traffic conditions — before the Richmond Highway widening and bus rapid transit (BRT) construction projects take place. The widening and BRT projects have been considering a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit, but any change wouldn’t be implemented until later this decade, according to VDOT’s Dan Reinhard.
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At VDOT’s first public meeting on the speed limit study last November, officials provided some project background and basic information on how speed limits are established. Afterwards, VDOT spent several months analyzing the speed data that had been collected last fall via video cameras at seven locations along the highway, factoring in other considerations like reported crashes, physical roadway features, traffic control devices, traffic volumes, and pedestrian and bicycle facilities and activity along the highway.
VDOT will kick off its July 20 meeting at 7 p.m. with a brief presentation of findings and recommendations from its draft report, to be followed by an hour-long question and answer session. Members of the community can provide comments to VDOT during the meeting or via its website, email or postal mail until August 1.
After evaluating public feedback, VDOT will issue its final report next fall, and the district traffic engineer will determine if a resolution is needed to officially set a different speed limit.
More information about the meeting, including how to pre-register or participate in listen-only mode, may be found on VDOT’s Route 1 Speed Limit Study web page.
