Richmond City Council quashes traffic circle at A.P. Hill statue

A divided Richmond City Council voted last night to prohibit the creation of a roundabout at Hermitage Road and Laburnum Avenue around the statue of Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill.

The 7-2 vote halted the city's plan for improving safety at the North Side intersection and left Mayor Dwight C. Jones' administration considering other options, such as a total prohibition of left-turning movements.

"It doesn't do much, but that's something," Chief Administrative Officer Byron C. Marshall said of the no-left-turn option after the vote.

Councilman Chris A. Hilbert had asked the council to take the usual step of blocking a project recommended by city traffic engineers. But he argued that building a two-lane roundabout in front of Linwood Holton Elementary School was a recipe for problems.

"I can't find, for the life of me, how it would be safer if you remove the traffic lights," he said.

In a public hearing, residents spoke strongly for and against the roundabout. Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson supported Hilbert's request, saying the council should not move ahead with any purported solution that divides the public.

"We need to stay at the table" and pursue a solution, she said.

Councilmen Douglas G. Conner Jr. and E. Martin Jewell voted to allow the roundabout, noting it had been recommended by traffic engineers as a way to reduce the number and severity of accidents. They also expressed concern that, by rejecting the roundabout, the city would have to reimburse $75,000 in federal funds provided for the project and that future road funding could be jeopardized.

"This is a matter of safety. This is a matter of saving lives," Jewell said.

Also last night, the council voted 9-0 to eliminate or scale back nine GRTC Transit System bus routes because of low ridership and budget woes. GRTC had recommended route cuts last year to help the system avoid a year-end budget deficit.

Last night's vote allows GRTC to scrap or significantly cut six routes: the western portion of Route 11 Laurel Street, as well as the entire Route 13 Main Street/Church Hill, Route 20 North Side, Route 61 Broad Rock Shuttle, Route 65 Stony Point Fashion Park and Route 68 Lunch Time Express.

Three others -- Route 16 Westhampton, Route 67 Chippenham and Route 22 Hermitage -- will be scaled back.

GRTC Chief Executive Officer John M. Lewis Jr. said the changes may inconvenience riders by forcing them to use alternate routes but should not prevent them from using the system.

"We've tried to keep reasonable access through the system," he said.

The changes are expected to take effect in mid-January and allow GRTC to save $1.2 million annually.

Last night's hearing attracted no speakers. Lewis said a public notice on the changes was posted on GRTC's Web site but not on the affected routes. Such notices weren't necessary, he said, because the changes were first recommended last year and discussed in community meetings.

"It's the same routes, the same thing we went through before," he said.

GRTC recommended cuts based on a study that identified inefficient routes in terms of how much of their cost is recovered through rider fares. Of the routes being cut, the Lunch Time Express has attracted the fewest riders -- an average of 12 per day in fiscal 2008-09, compared with 641 for Westhampton. Overall, GRTC has about 40,000 riders per day on its 40 routes.

In other business, the council appointed Lynn McAteer, a vice president with the Better Housing Coalition, and Doug Cole, a landscape architect, to three-year terms on the Richmond Planning Commission, replacing Beverley Lacey and Bob Mills, whose terms had expired.

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or .