INSIDE Area firehouses hosting pancake breakfasts with Santa > See page 9
Volume 59, Number 46 • December 4, 2014
Study numbers offer picture of roads’ current and future issues
1404
29,200
18,310
Number of vehicles turning onto Broad Street from Route 288 during peak evening travel time (4:45 to 5:45 p.m.).
Average number of vehicle trips per day between the 288 interchange on Broad Street and the Goochland/Henrico border.
Estimated number of new vehicle trips per day that will be added to the Broad Street corridor when Henrico’s planned West Broad Market opens in 2016.
Let there be light
Stemming the traffic
TIDE
County works to get ahead of worsening issues plaguing Broad Street, Ashland Road
By Roslyn Ryan Editor
O
f all the sounds known to man, few are as cringe-inducing as the squealing tires and crunching metal of a car accident. During a three-year study period begin-
ning in 2010, over 70 drivers traveling on Broad Street between Hockett Road and the Goochland/Henrico border were involved in car crashes. And while there were no fatalities recorded, 36 of those crashes resulted in injury. Goochland County leaders have spent the last several months working on a corri-
County residents traveling along Broad Street in Goochland’s eastern end may have noticed one big improvement to the traffic issue: The long-awaited stoplight at the intersection of Broad Street and Hockett Road. District 4 Supervisor Robert Minnick said the light is the culmination of a two-year effort by the county. Money for the light had already been put aside years ago, proffered by developers who suspected the intersection would one day need one. And now that it’s there? As one owner of a nearby business told Minnick, “people are ecstatic.”
dor study involving 10 intersections along sections of both Broad Street and Ashland Road, a project they hope will yield solid recommendations for managing a traffic flow that is sure to increase as planned developments move forward in the comsee Traffic > 3
Neighbors put twist on Christmas Mother effort Several local neighborhoods have turned annual program into friendly competition By Roslyn Ryan Editor
As the dozens of volunteers involved with the Goochland Christmas Mother program count down the days until they begin handing out holiday packages, Christmas Mother Meta Potts said she is still amazed by the way it has all come together. “The last two weeks have been pretty busy,” Potts said last week, though she hesitated to say they had been difficult. Thanks to the hard work of the 21-member Christmas Mother “It’s such a Board, Potts said the process has huge project been incredibly smooth. “It’s so well organized, and I ... bigger am so impressed with this board,” than anyone Potts said. “It’s just a pleasure to knows. I work with them.” st Now in its 51 year, the can’t tell Goochland Christmas Mother you how program is once again closing many people in on its goal of providing gifts and food for county families who come up to might not otherwise be able to me and say enjoy the holidays. ‘I had no The program, coordinated idea’.” and staffed entirely by volunteers, is expected to serve around 900 Christmas see Christmas Mother > 4
Mother Meta Potts