to the genius who wrote: "It would be wise for Richmond to start building pedestrian bridges over Broad Street in the Short Pump"--you DO realize Short Pump is about 12 miles OUTSIDE the Richmond City limits?

Annoyed - The bumpy portion of the Downtown Expressway you refer to is actually maintained by VDOT, not RMA. RMA's downtown expressway is from the Meadow Street overpass west to the I-95 junction.

RMA.... Seems like its just another "goverment" organization that is full of bureacrats (aka free loaders). Not only is the toll being hiked but also the quality of roads keep on degrading. Hopefully Linda McElroy has travelled on the downtown express way to feel the bumps all along the way (isn't all the profits from toll suppose to go in maintaing roads or is it that all our hard earned money is being used to furnish the lavish lifestyles of RMA execs?... Other cities and towns are embracing being green and giving back to the community. Why isn't RMA being honest about the cost it incurred to build both the downtown express way/Powhite and the money they have made by collecting tolls thus far (oh ya don't forget to deduct all the bonuses that are being awarded). GO Figure Richmond.... we will just keep on paying through our noses for sub-par RMA service.

Does the fact that Richmond.com got purchased by RTD, have anything to do with why we have no "Why Richmond Why" column today?

Dear DJ,
The toll booths to which you are referring is actually owned and operated by VDOT. The RMA portion of the Powhite Parkway is located at Chippenham Parkway. You may have noticed that we recently implemented the express lanes on the Powhite Parkway, which eliminated gates and stopping for E-ZPass customers on this roadway (except for only 2 dedicated lanes north and southbound). We also operate the Downtown Expressway, which continues to maintain the gated toll booths as a toll violation measure. This is the reason I inquired about specifics the toll booths in question as you neglected to mention a location specifically. I hope this answers your question.

It would be wise for Richmond to start building pedestrian bridges over Broad Street in the Short Pump shopping area. Also, over Midlothian Tpk in the Chesterfield shopping area. Pedestrian traffic is on the up in the near future. Providing ways for people to move about without getting in their cars, especially if the distance is only across the street is wise and healthy for people of Richmond. As it is now, you take your life in your hands to walk or bike to these shopping areas. Gas/car addiction needs to end and will have to eventually. Making way for people to walk safely should be a priority in the planning of Richmond. Pedestrian bridges are not anything new. They are very common in cities in the northeast and also Europe.

What is the point of an EZPass if there is a bar in the way? Why can the bar not be removed? With gas the price it has been, to stop and go through an EZPass lane is costing extra money that people can not afford. I think the EZPass should be paying us for the gas waste. Linda McElroy, public relations manager even states the lanes are dedicated." For the time being, the dedicated E-ZPass only lanes at the toll booths will continue to have gates."

I ran this question by Linda McElroy, public relations manager for the Richmond Metropolitan Authority, and she needs some more information regarding the specific toll plaza. Please provide the specifics in the comments section below.

I copied and pasted the above so I don't have to rewrite everything - the specific toll booth that affects me is the first one coming into town on the Powhite just beyond 288. There is no reason I or anyone should have to come to a complete STOP at a dedicated E-ZPass lane but going into town and coming home at night I continuously have to stop and wait for the bar to go up. This is costly to the consumer!!!!!! There are probably other toll booths that do this also, I should not have to tell which toll booths do this, this should be known.

You guys whining about this crack me up. I don't know the statistics on how many people are run over crossing that light annually. Regardless, say the pedestrian walk light is lengthened to whatever arbitrary time is deemed acceptable for the slowest person to safely make it across. The first time that thing is triggered and there are no disabled pedestrians going across or the area is clear within 18 seconds, etc, you'll be the first ones whining that you were wasting gas waiting at that light while all traffic is stopped for no reason. You can't have it both ways and accommodating the exceptions is not necessarily the best solution. Perhaps they can pick one time a day that the light will be 5 minutes long at the same time everyday. The drivers will be aware and go a different way and the retirees can plan on going to the store around that scheduled time. Fair?

pedestrians shouldn't be given any extra time, build bridges over the roads for areas with elderly populations and make everyone else run...a little exercise won't kill anyone. 2-3 minutes to cross? Stay your lazy butt at home.

i think pedestrians should have 2-3 minutes of cross time and so cars can wait and park for a few minutes at the lights

I'm regularly accused of walking too fast, and when I cross that intersection, the flashing light goes red before I hit the double yellow lines. And you certainly can't start across as soon as it turns green, as cars blow through the red lights there regularly.

I agree with Frustrated that these answers from the City are ridiculous. Sure, they might be meeting the required Uniform Standards, but the person who asked the question mentioned special considerations that would warrant something other than the canned response. Will the city fall back on their "uniform standards" when someone in a wheelchair gets hit by a car because they couldn't get across in 18 seconds?

18 seconds for an average person is plenty of time however the original question mentioned disabled folks crossing this intersection. There is a large retirement community off of Hathaway and if many of those folks cross Forest Hill to get to the Food Lion and other shops, then perhaps special concessions should be considered.

18 seconds sounds like plenty of time to cross the road to me. Now if there are cars going through red lights preventing you from crossing when you get the okay, than your beef should be with those drivers that break the law.

Come on City of Richmond. You guys need to raise the bar on service and performance. Translation to answer #1: "No, we are not going to install traffic sensors at any of these lights. Yes, you will sit for a couple of minutes at lights at night when there is absolutely no traffic traveling in the other direction." Translation to answer #3: "No, we aren't concerned with allowing more time for people to cross this busy intersection. Cars are given the priority. And we won't even mention the sidewalks because we don't plan on fixing them for another couple of years at least." I hope our next mayor can find a way to make our government work better for us... either by raising the mediocre expectations of what City employees are supposed to do on a daily basis or by cutting waste and increasing budgets where needed.