RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – Richmond will implement several road safety projects in 2026 as part of its Vision Zero initiative, putting a focus on road diets.

The initiatives plan to address increasing traffic concerns and limited street space as the area grows.

“We have to be very careful how we handle our street space, our very limited space,” Andy Boenau, Richmond’s Transportation Engineering Program Manager. said.

Boenau said a road diet is a way to reorganize the given space to make it work better for not only an increase in drivers, but also safer for pedestrians, bikers and buses as well.

It means more protected bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes, and sidewalks in the new year.

While Richmond already has some protected bike lanes where parking is used to separate the road from bikers, Boenau said the City now has the funding to make the safety measure more like a beautification project.

“We’re finally at this point now where several miles of bike lanes are going to be hardened, we call it, with concrete and landscaped islands,” Boenau said.

While you may have seen the bus lanes on Broad street, Richmond is planning to pilot more scattered ones throughout the city.

Not only does this protect the buses and the people on then, but it will also force other drivers to slow down as it reworks the lines on the road.

“If the bus is so convenient and reliable and frequent, it’s just an extension of walking,” he said. “And we want people to be able to see and experience the bus as exactly that, as an extension of walking.”

Route One across the James River is one location being considered for dedicated transit lanes.

“Anybody that goes across that bridge, if you dare put your car on cruise control to go the speed limit, you’ll see you feel like you’re a stone in water,” Boenau said.

The city is also working to make improvements to intersections and has two surveys out now.

They can be found here and here.

Filling them out helps Richmond plan its next projects and how to use the funding that’s there to make it work best for neighbors.

Copyright 2025 WWBT. All rights reserved.