The choke point where West Broad Street intersects Pump Road-Pouncey Tract Road in western Henrico County may loosen its grip in two years. The Henrico County Board of Supervisors voted last night to authorize construction of the North Gayton Road extension from Broad Street to Pouncey Tract. Tim Foster, director of public works, said the project is expected to open in 2011 with 9,600 vehicles per day.

Paul Reed figures it just wasn’t his time to die. Not that he didn’t think otherwise yesterday. “I ain’t gonna make it” was his first thought in the seconds after a rope-and-board seat slipped from beneath him, leaving him dangling 75 feet above the ground and grasping for a grip with his legs and arms on an oil-slick flagpole.

1949: Samuel S. Wurtzel opens first Wards Co. television and appliance store on West Broad Street in Richmond.
  1974: The Wards Loading Dock opens on Thalbro Street in Henrico County. The 40,000-square-foot retail warehouse-showroom of audio, video and major appliances is the precursor to today’s Circuit City superstore.
  1979: A second Wards Loading Dock opens in Richmond.