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And at 300 rooms, that’s more sizable than any hotel that’s been formally proposed in Richmond as of late (outside of the City Center proposals, which are going nowhere right now). So, this is significant! Surprised no one has posted the renderings yet, so here ya go:

For those who can attend: https://www.facebook.com/100064616443023/posts/pfbid02z4PCnRDDDX7joqLQBaBc9aN5JZVBctzFTo6oRowLDtjgcoMxCR4V7r8fEdPH5LYnl/?mibextid=cr9u03

Thanks! Looks pretty dead though. Hmm…

If you haven’t noticed (for those of you who own iPhones), Apple Maps has a cool feature now (at least, I’m just discovering it) where you can browse Richmond in 3D! I took this short video on my phone to show you what I’m talking about. The map appears to be fairly recent too! RPReplay_Final1709657456.mp4

How about a boat, kayak, raft, and other river equipment rental store that also sells bait for fishing, snacks, drinks and a bunch of other outdoorsman needs…maybe with an attached restaurant? Although, I’m not sure such an outfit could afford the outrageous price of just that small piece of land!!

Yeah, this is two blocks north of the public safety building where it was once thought would be the location of the new school of dentistry. Lots of questions: Where will the student center go now? What will happen to the public safety building block now? Will the school of dentistry include the entire block of the student center or just a portion of it. knowing that, will help understand us how tall the new school will be.

Wonder if this route will become a new longstanding cargo route for RIC?

Well, someone is going to have to snap some photos this weekend and post them to prove it!

Apologize for not already knowing, what am I looking at?

Dang! Look at those cheap prices! I do realize that’s before paying for any upgrades or luggage, but still! Jump on these deals!

Frequency increase coming on Spirit Airlines to MCO:

"This entire strip along Broad Street from Scotts Addition to I-64 will evolve into a corridor of high density mixed use over the next ten years as the car dealerships and old retail is replaced. I watched it happen on Leesburg Pike in Tysons Corner and it’ll happen here on a smaller scale." Would love to see this area morph on an equal scale, not a smaller one. As if they’re saying, “Oh look at Richmond growing, but on an itsy bitsy scale…isn’t she just cute [pinches cheeks]? She’s just the miniature version of DC and will perpetually live in its shadow!” Can’t roll eyes hard enough.

….but dang, that museum design is hideous! What the…!? Looks like a Conehead landed in Richmond!

Airport stats are finally posted. As expected for January, the passenger counts do not exceed 400K (not even close), but there was still a 5.89% increase over January 2023. I’ll take it. Expect February to look similar or slightly worse as history tells us February is the slowest month for passengers at RIC each year. Interestingly, cargo continues to impresses with a whopping 18.43% growth!

Great news! Thanks @Niccckk! On a separate note, I’ve been in contact with RIC regarding the January stats. They have not been posted yet due to a technical migration error. Don’t think they have the bugs worked out. Kinda wish they’d just send me the stats via messenger, but maybe they’ll have the stats posted soon. Will provide an update when I get it.

Just a little rain storm (as part of a cold front) coming through. Sure does look ominous though.

Sweet! Let us know how it goes!

Yeah, this makes no sense whatsoever. Of all the seasons to end a service, you normally don’t end a seasonal service in the summer, especially to a place like Phoenix.

I reached out to the airport and found out what the money from this grant is going toward. Here is what the airport told me: “[The] BIL funding which will be combined with other funding streams to construct facilities identified in our ACIP, such as parking apron rehab, the TWY E & C intersection projects, and a new ARFF station (fire station).” So, the funding will go toward a number of projects to improve safety (ie - TWY E & C) and to pave the way for future projects. Moving the ARFF (fire station) allows for a more modern facility, but if you look at where it is and where it’s going in the master plan, it actually helps clear the way for a new parallel runway…whenever the need for it to be built is warranted.

Not that we’ve seen yet. Should be coming from Odell Associates. This is not the one.

From the RTD: The extra bits Richmond area residents pay on sales and gas taxes will help fund an additional $232 million of work to fix major local traffic headaches in the Short Pump area and on Hull Street Road, as well as start north-south Bus Rapid Transit service, the Central Virginia Transportation Authority board has decided. The idea is that committing local funds tends to speed up the awarding of state and federal money for projects that will take years to design and build. The local money comes from a 0.7 percentage point surcharge on sales tax across nine localities, as well as a 7.6-cents-per-gallon add-on to the state’s wholesale gasoline tax and a surcharge of 7.7 cents a gallon on the diesel tax. The authority’s funding for 22 high-priority regional projects is in addition to its previous commitments of $474.5 million to 45 priority regional commitments from 2021 to 2023. The latest awards include: * $60 million to help fund design and construction of a new interchange at the intersection of North Gayton Road and Interstate 64 in Henrico County’s Short Pump area. This will include reconstructing the existing interchange at West Broad Street, improvements on West Board and improvements to a section of I-295. * $8 million for the proposed North-South Bus Rapid Transport line – a high frequency, limited stop service like Richmond’s “The Pulse” service. The money will go for construction of stops and other roadway, signal, and pedestrian safety improvements for the 2.5-mile section along Chamberlayne Avenue from the Henrico County line to Lombardy Street. * $7 million to extend the current east-west “The Pulse" route to the intersection of Parham Road and West Broad Street. The project will include a minimum of 1.25 bidirectional miles of dedicated shared bus and bike lanes. * $6.5 million for a permanent brick-and-mortar Downtown Transit Hub facility. * $8.5 million for improvements around the gateway to the Port of Richmond, $7 million for work on Commerce Road, also in South Richmond, and $5 million for a portion of the Fall Line Trail there. * $27.25 million in Chesterfield County to extend Powhite Parkway to Woolridge Road, including a partial-cloverleaf interchange at Charter Colony Parkway. * $10.75 million for traffic-clogged U.S. 360, to widen it to six lanes from Cosby Road to Otterdale Road, with right turn lanes at Fox Club Parkway, Otterdale Road, and Hampton Park Drive, and another $10 million for improvements at the intersection with Walnut Grove Road. * $20.9 million for a project along Midlothian Turnpike, to construct a shared-use path for pedestrians and bicyclists along the south side of Route 60 from Old Otterdale Road to Woolridge Road, as well as to install sidewalks. * $15 million to help fund improvements at the Route 288 interchange with U.S. 250 in Goochland County, as well as an auxiliary lane on Route 288, and $5 million to help fund improvements at the U.S. 60 intersection with State Route 13 in Powhatan. * $18.3 million toward the new bridge that will be needed to create a diverging diamond interchange off Interstate 64 at Route 106, as well as $4 million to help finance improvements on New Osborne Turnpike.

You’re right, but this is the page where I got it from (I think there’s a link in there somewhere). Someone posted this on X yesterday as if it was new, but it didn’t look like any of the updates were made to include this lastest grant award. Check it out for yourself: https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/biden-harris-administration-announces-nearly-1-billion-grants-bipartisan

I found this, but the grant amount doesn’t match. Perhaps, this was from a previous grant award that helped pay for the new customs area (which we know is almost complete). Otherwise, it may be to pay for 21 new jet bridges, but that’s just a guess:

Henrico, on their sports and events center website, used to say that groundbreaking will be in 2024. I just noticed that they deleted the groundbreaking date (which doesn’t bode well): https://henricosea.com/facilities-venues/greencity/

Petersburg has already issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) this past Monday for a casino to be built in Petersburg if the referendum passes this November: The RFP states that bids for the project “must include” a casino, destination resort, retail shopping, dining and drink options, an event center and a hotel with a minimum of 500 rooms, with a preference for two 4-star rated hotels. The deadline for bid submissions is listed as March 18. Cordish proposed a casino in Petersburg a couple years ago, which was (in my opinion) pretty robust and would have been HUGE. The proposed location was at I-95 and Wagner Road. I’m interested to see what kind of proposals Petersburg gets this time…will the location be the same? Will Cordish pitch the same proposal? I really think a casino will pass in a referendum in November in Petersburg and this project will influence the Richmond Metro area. I’m anxiously watching to see what happens. https://richmond.com/news/local/government-politics/petersburg-casino-resort-developers-lashrecse-aird-infrastructure-schools-rfp/article_b9b7f184-cb84-11ee-a9d0-33527d455b24.html#tracking-source=home-top-story