RICHMOND, VA. – The Department of Public Works has been awarded an $8,859,934 Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Program (VHSIP) grant by Commonwealth Transportation Board action to provide safety improvements throughout the City. The city is dedicated to creating safer streets for every road user regardless of age or ability. The grant (comprised of 100% federal grant funding with no required matching funds from the city), will focus on the following systemic safety improvements at intersections:

1. High Visibility Traffic Signal Backplates
2. High Visibility Crosswalks
3. Flashing Yellow Arrows for turning movements
4. Left Turn Hardening
5. Regulatory Signs
6. Warning Signs
7. Intersection Pavement Markings

Additional details | the Department plans to install the following safety improvements throughout the City of Richmond:

• Up to 772 high visibility signal backplates (HVSB) at 277 signal controlled intersections
• Up to 338 high visibility crosswalks at 131 signal controlled intersections
• Up to 255 flashing yellow arrow signal heads at 81 signalized intersections. 
• Up to 200 stop-controlled intersections will have new regulatory and warning signs as well as pavement markings for stop lines and corner clearance marks
• Up to 10 intersections with left turn hardening measures

The planned safety improvements are either on the City’s High Injury Street Network, within a pedestrian safety action plan corridor or within an underserved community.

Over the next year, a standard project agreement between the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the City of Richmond will go before City Council for review and approval. Funding is provided for fiscal year 2025, which starts July 1, 2024.

The Department of Public Works appreciates the partnership with the Federal Highway Administration and VDOT to further its Vision Zero objectives through its Highway Safety Improvement grant program. Additionally, the Vision Zero Task Force would like to thank Richmond’s Safe and Healthy Streets Commission for their partnership to seek resources for important changes to the built environment to shift our safety culture.   

For more information on Vision Zero, please visit us online at https://www.rva.gov/public‐works/vison-zero or email us at AskPublicWorks@rva.gov

We’re Social! For updates on DPW‐related projects, activities and events visit us on Twitter @DPW_RichmondVA

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The City of Richmond Department of Public Works (DPW) is one of only 195 currently accredited public works agencies in the United States. DPW’s portfolio comprises a wide array of services to include leaf collection; street, sidewalk and alley maintenance; trash collection; recycling; grass cutting;  graffiti removal; parking enforcement; urban forestry; street signs; traffic signals and pavement markings and civil engineering. In addition, DPW maintains upkeep on most city buildings; issues permits for working in the city’s right-of-way; manages the RVA Bike Share program and maintains the fleet of city vehicles. DPW’s operating budget comes from the general fund of the City of Richmond.  For more information about DPW services, click here or call 3-1-1.

The City of Richmond, Virginia, in 1966, codified one of the oldest continuously operating transportation safety commissions in North America - The Safe and Healthy Streets Commission (SHSC). Since its inception, the SHSC has advised the Richmond City Council on all transportation safety matters. The SHSC has a diverse membership and includes citizens, transportation safety professionals, a city council member, the Chief of Police, the Director of Public Works, the Superintendent of Schools, and the City Transportation Engineer.

The SHSC sets annual priorities focused on executive, legislative, budgetary, and cultural changes. These priorities work towards the Richmond City Council’s 2016 goal, backed by Mayor Stoney, to reduce traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries to ZERO by 2030. The SHSC’s annual priorities reflect the City’s commitment to Vision Zero, the Safe System approach (SSA), and Complete Streets policies. The SHSC adopted the twelve strategies and five supplemental planning needs, based on their set annual priorities, to improve Richmond’s built environment and strengthen the culture of safety. With its high-functioning Vision Zero organizational structure, Richmond is well positioned to implement these projects and supplemental planning activities that showcase the impact of the SSA using proven safety countermeasures and low-cost, high-impact strategies.

The Safe and Healthy Streets Commission (SHSC) adopted Richmond’s Vision Zero Action Plan in 2018, and is charged with monitoring and reporting progress on the Action Plan. The Mayor and the SHSC established a Vision Zero Task Force, made up of City department leaders, charged with implementing the strategies, projects, and policies set out in the Action Plan.