HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Those that live along Jackson Avenue in the Sandston area of Henrico County are concerned about speeding in their neighborhood.
According to resident Jack Peters, drivers are not following the 25 mile per hour posted speed limit on the road when travelling along Jackson Avenue.
“[There are] no stop signs, nothing to slow them down,” Peters said. “And I can hear them go through all four gears sometimes.”
Peters has lived along Jackson Avenue for 30 years and said he saw the county conduct a traffic study for the road back in 2021. However, he said no changes ever came from this.
“A lot of people who use this road don’t live here, they don’t care about our safety,” Peters said. “All we want is some help, you know, either speed humps, four way stop signs will help, at least they’d have to slow down one time anyway.”
The 2021 study showed the average speed caught then was 28.8 miles per hour. According to the county, that number was not high enough for the road to qualify for the traffic calming program at the time. The Henrico County Department of Public Works sent the following statement to 8News:
The Henrico County Department of Public Works received a traffic calming request for Jackson Avenue in September 2021. At that time, the street did not qualify for our traffic calming program. The citizen who made the request was contacted, and no other requests have been made.
If the residents of Jackson Avenue would like Public Works to re-evaluate, they are welcome to resubmit their street to the traffic calming program by emailing trafficcalming@henrico.us or calling 804-501-4393. All requests should include their name, address, phone number, email address and area of concern.
Peters said that, since the study in 2021, he’s gathered over two pages of signatures from his neighbors for a petition. He said he’s also sent letters to local and state leaders hoping for something to be done before it’s too late.
“We’re just gonna keep pushing, we’re not gonna give up this time,” Peters said. “And if they give us a deaf ear again, we’re gonna start petitioning for sidewalks.”
The county also explained the criteria for its traffic calming program has changed since 2021, so they encouraged Jackson Avenue residents to resubmit their request.
“We might do that. But we’ll go see what some of our letters do first, because we’re gonna go as high as we can. And we’re gonna lobby this till they get sick of us, because we need some relief here,” Peters said.
The current criteria for the traffic calming program includes things like crash history and what the posted speed limit is. You can find more information about this on Henrico County’s website.
