Richmond plans to make Jahnke Road safer

Get ready to climb out of those ditches along Jahnke Road.

Richmond is working on a plan to install sidewalks, curb and gutter, and a way to separate traffic on the heavily traveled two-lane road in South Side between Blakemore Road and Forest Hill Avenue.

Currently, passengers on GRTC Transit System buses have to step over ditches as they board or disembark. Traffic accidents are up, especially at the intersection of Jahnke and Blakemore, near Lucille M. Brown Middle School.

"We will get a Jahnke Road that is safer for both motorists and the neighborhood," City Council President Kathy C. Graziano said in a statement last week. "It will be a vital part of our effort to stabilize and reinvest in the neighborhood in the Jahnke Road corridor."

The Richmond Department of Public Works outlined two potential designs at a community meeting last month. One would create a continuous turn lane in the center of the road between the two travel lanes. The other would create a grass median. Both options would include sidewalks, curb and gutter, with a bike path on one side of the road, as well as space for landscaping.

The options emerged after a community meeting last summer in which residents opposed a four-lane road, urged keeping the speed limit at 35 mph, and emphasized the safety of pedestrians and schoolchildren. (Elizabeth D. Redd and Westover Hills elementary schools also face Jahnke.) City officials say they plan to accommodate those concerns, as well as ensure easy access for people with disabilities.

The city estimates the project will cost about $18 million, "although we expect it to be less after we get long further in the design process," said Public Works spokeswoman Sharon R. North. The city is relying solely on federal funds channeled through the region's Metropolitan Planning Organization, but it doesn't have money yet for construction.

The timetable for completing the project is three to five years, according to Graziano's office. The city has not decided which option it will pursue but expects to complete the design by spring 2011.

"If funding allows, we can begin purchasing the needed right of way and easements during the same period," North said.

Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or .