Richmond off-topic postings

[wrldcoupe4]

Thanks! .... Umm a few miles from Tappahannock not too far from the Piscataway Creek.

[eandslee]

Yeah Coupe, those photos were absolutely beautiful! I actually felt myself there for a moment and then I snapped back to reality. I was so bummed...

[wrldcoupe4]

yeah the sunsets there were awesome!

[Cadeho]

Cam, I'm stumped about St. Joseph's Villa except to say that the old Right of Way of the Richmond/Ashland Interurban railway runs thru the property. Maybe the power station supplied electricity to the rail line?

If you look hard, you can see the old R/O/W between the Villa and Bank of America as well as at other locations such as Hilliard Road. The tracks paralleled Rte. 1 from its terminal on West Broad across from Laurel Street to a station in Ashland.

Another rail line! YAY! Thanks Burt! So that wasn't a canal then. I've followed that right of way where the powerlines are on car, on livelocal, and on Henrico's maps. I think I know what station you're talking about and I meant to ask about it months ago. I saw on the 1912 map a depot on Broad about where the Richmond Glass place is. It's a big building, was it the depot? It's in the right spot. And to think rails ran through Carver... I need to go exploring again. I liked what I found of the Richmond Rappahannock Railroad.

[Cadeho]

Anyone caught out in Gaston II today? I hate storms that just sit in place! And I know we probably don't put out that much heat, but storms seem to blow up as they pass over the city. I watched the radar today on the Weather Channel and the heavy red and orange sat over approximately downtown and eastward as the greens were moving west to east. Even with an umbrella I got soaked getting in and out of the car and then the sidewalk was filled with about 2" of water. I had gone to Laburnam Square's Ukrop's to get my grandmother a cake and card for her 77th today and the parking lot was a river (where my feet got soaked the first time). But hey, we all looked like we had just taken a dip in the James. Many of the streets on my way home had major ponding and ditches were full. I wondered how Shockoe faired in this? Maybe ponding too or did the ghost of Shockoe Creek return?

And if Tommy were here... he may be mad because it was dry at Innsbrook and the sun was peaking out. But going eastward, I sure ran into it complete with very dark clouds and oddly no lightning from afar. Oh but it sure was sharp underneath.

Ok... Shockoe Bottom did flood. 3"+ rainfall in a short period of time... and part of the hill beneath WRVA's building slid acros the street into the old warehouse across the street at 21st and Grace. From Fox35's 10PM news.

Edited August 16, 2006 by Cadeho

[BGW]

Almost 2 years to the day...good job Richmond!

Perhaps Mister Mayor needs to worry less about digging up trains and knocking down schools and focus more on fixing the drainage in The Bottom. Much more of this, and they'll be lucky if everyone doesn't close up shop and move out of there.

[Cadeho]

And so what if they do? What genius plans a thriving district in a floodplain? Raise your hand if you don't understand that a valley between steep hills where a creek runs underground has severe runoff when a heavy thunderstorm SITS... let me emphasize this... SITS on top of an area for an hour and a half, that flooding is going to occur WITH drainage, WITH pumps, WITH all the engineering marvels of the world, it's still going to flood. This was not a downpour that lasted 15 minutes, which at one time did cause some flooding before down there. I remember rejoicing when there was a series of tropical rainstorms associalted with the remnants of Tropical Storm Alberto that past by and there was no flooding a few months ago. What can be done? Even New Orleans had some problems after common rain storms. Shockoe Valley drains anything on either side of it and as far as near the Diamond to the west and an area northeast of the city. Sure they were able to put the creek from Valley Rd to the river and all of Bacon's Quarter Branch underground, it's like trying to change the course of the James... it drains from somewhere. Where are you going to reroute it? If water's coming from above, from the west, north, and east, where is it going to go? Please tell me where is it going to go? Because I don't think some people understand weather, geography, geology, and physics combined. Yeah money was used to spruce up the system, and it didn't work, but you can spend billions and have the same thing happen.

So if they move, let them. Let them move to Broad and Grace streets up the hill or throughout downtown. Demolish Shockoe Bottom, put the creek back and make it a park. It's not as if THAT is the only place where clubs, bars, and restaurants can locate in the city in historic buildings. I don't understand how the area was not demolished 20 years ago when there was nothing there but vacant, crumbling buildings that outlived their uses and had been damaged by flood after flood after flood. Where is the rocket science here?

[JWCJ]

Look, It's hard to fix the old sewers in Shockoe Bottom and If they were fixed this would have still happened. Maybe not as high as it got yesterday, but it would have still happened because the rain primeraly was not falling on the bottom, it was falling over downtown and washed down the hill to the bottom. So it's going to build up water in the bottom. What's needed to be done is make a new and better sewage system down there and also not have it connect to the rest of the city's sewage system because that's also playing a factor in this flood. Plus any place that gets 3 inches of rain in a half hour will flood, there's no way of stopping it. And the reason why other parts of the region didn't flood is because the heaviest rains fell over Richmond.

And no one is going to distroy Shockoe Bottom and make it a creek it's too histroric and it doesn't flood every thunderstorm, this storm was special it dropped 3 inches of rain in a half an hour!

[BGW]

Yes, there may be lots of problems with the location, and perhaps the area should never have been developed as anything other than a cowpasture in the first place. But the fact is that it's there and, less-than-impressive though it may be, it's one of the few parts of the city that doesn't roll up the sidewalks and call it a night at 5PM. Inaction by the city at this point isn't going to drive merchants and restauranteurs to Broad or Grace, it's going to drive them either out of the city, or out of business entirely. We could armchair quarterback this to death and state that it's the business owners'/residents' fault for moving there in the first place, but they're doing so based on assurances from the city that they were going to fix what Gaston showed us was broken.

So what do you suggest we do? Abandon the whole area because of a very solvable drainage problem? Yes, it's a flood plain, but there are hundreds of cities in similar floodplains which don't experience the same issues. The difference is that other cities have actually done something about it. The amount of money won't run into the billions; in fact, had the city actually put the same effort to this as they have the ballpark and the Ukrop-Armstrong Smoke-and-Mirrors Performing Arts Center, we might not be having this discussion now.

Funny how our city government is quick to institute a meals tax when the beneficiary is the top 1% of the population, but they can't seem to find the time or money for public works...

[burt]

Another rail line! YAY! Thanks Burt! So that wasn't a canal then. I've followed that right of way where the powerlines are on car, on livelocal, and on Henrico's maps. I think I know what station you're talking about and I meant to ask about it months ago. I saw on the 1912 map a depot on Broad about where the Richmond Glass place is. It's a big building, was it the depot? It's in the right spot. And to think rails ran through Carver... I need to go exploring again. I liked what I found of the Richmond Rappahannock Railroad.

Cam, the Richmond Glass Company building at Broad and Laurel IS the old terminal. Interurban cars arrived and left from a 2nd level shed and traveled via an elevated track across the valley to an area south of the Central Post Office on Brook Road. Surface tracks along Brook Road continued from Azalea Avenue and past The Villa all the way to Ashland.

[Cadeho]

Cam, the Richmond Glass Company building at Broad and Laurel IS the old terminal. Interurban cars arrived and left from a 2nd level shed and traveled via an elevated track across the valley to an area south of the Central Post Office on Brook Road. Surface tracks along Brook Road continued from Azalea Avenue and past The Villa all the way to Ashland.

Thanks Burt! Everything comes together now.

JWCJ, the creek still runs through Shockoe Bottom and it is what's drained that area for thousands if not a million or so years. It had been rerouted several times and finally channelled underground. It too is historic, as it was once the western boundary of the city and was deep enough that ocean-going ships could enter it (although that part of the creek from my observation is part of the Richmond Dock). It would be one of the first things to flood the area when the river flooded and has been a problem since the city was founded on its northern and eastern banks. There would be no harm in having greenspace with the naturally flowing creek in the Bottom. It's be an urban oasis if done right (HA! when is anything ever done right here?). by the way, it rained the same rate over the entire eastern side of the city including the Bottom. How you worded it, it was as if it only rained downtown.

Is it really that solvable? There are areas where it's just not favorable to build. There are apartment complexes and trailer parks built in flood plains that don't have proper drainage and is that really something that can be fixed when the lay of the land is low and it's already a natural channel although dry most of the time? You don't throw money at stuff and it's all fixed. Shockoe Bottom should have been abandoned when it was abandoned. That was done for a reason and it's back to haunt us in a different form.

[Downtowner]

Well sorry I haven't contributed in the past few days came down with a really bad virus. I am almost 100 % better but I should be on here more often tomorrow and in the future.

[Cadeho]

I hope you feel better. *sprays Lysol*

[BrasilnSC]

Hello everyone. I was hoping you all could help me out. I'm driving to DC this evening from Columbia, SC. I will be pushed for time and was wondering which way is quicker, taking I-95 or I-295 in Richmond. I'll be there around 10pm so traffic should not be a problem. I-295 seems to go a little out of the way, but are the speed limits on I-95 in the city slower? I do plan on driving through the city on my way back. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks.

[wrldcoupe4]

That's a good question... there definitely wouldn't be traffic. Through the city speed limits are 55 mph, but it's a more direct route, definitely. Plus, you'll get an awesome night view of the skyline! Not sure which one would take longer though?

[Cadeho]

The speed limit on 295 is 65mph.

[urbanvb]

I have never take 95 through the city. I must do that the next time I am up that way.

[wrldcoupe4]

The view isn't as sweet from the East as it is from the South, but you'd get a great view of the new Philip Morris R&D building in the Biotech Park....

Though if you took 460 to 95, you'd still get that skyline view!

[rusthebuss]

actually there isn't that much traffic going through the city so I would go through there. 295 would actually add some time and its purpose really is people coming from 95 south and north heading to 64 don't have to go down to the city to connect. Its to cut that traffic down that doesn't need to cut through the city

[Cadeho]

The view isn't as sweet from the East as it is from the South, but you'd get a great view of the new Philip Morris R&D building in the Biotech Park....

Though if you took 460 to 95, you'd still get that skyline view!

You mean 360. The view on Route 1 is great too.

urbanvb, next time, from 64, take 295 south then if you have $2 to spare, take 895 to 95.

Edited August 17, 2006 by Cadeho

[burt]

BrasilinSC, welcome to the Richmond forum. I would suggest I-95 thru the city at that hour, but stay within the speed limit because there are some tricky curves.

[burt]

Well sorry I haven't contributed in the past few days came down with a really bad virus. I am almost 100 % better but I should be on here more often tomorrow and in the future.

Welcome back, Joey.

[BrasilnSC]

Thanks for your responses everyone . I will take I-95 through the city on my way there and back, that way I get to see the city both at night and during the day. I'm sure I'll be impressed.

[burt]

Thanks for your responses everyone . I will take I-95 through the city on my way there and back, that way I get to see the city both at night and during the day. I'm sure I'll be impressed.

I hope the tower of Main Street Station is illuminated. It will be just to your right as you cross the I-95 James River Bridge into downtown.

[Cadeho]

It usually is lit. Oh and when you're going home, don't let the changing digital billboard distract you. I think it's more noticable at night though.