As a pedestrian who was hit by a vehicle in the last 6 years while walking downtown near the Capitol, I am in support of keeping Bank Street as a safe passage for pedestrians and bicycles 24/7.  There are no other safe routes in that downtown vicinity traveling east and west.  Thank you for your consideration. 

Marjorie Menacker

Richmond, VA

I am writing to urge the state to make Bank Street accessible to people on foot and bicycle 24 hours a day and not restrict access during evening hours, as proposed regulations would do.  Bank Street is a crucial connection in the Richmond bike-pod master plan between already-existing facilities on Franklin Street and Bank Street south of 14th, and East Franklin.  This connection has been planned for years.  Please do not block this crucial connection for Richmond residents who travel by foot and bike.  

Bank Street is a key throughway for pedestrians and cyclists attempting to cross downtown safely. All other nearby streets are dangerous to vulnerable road users and not suitable for their use. Closing Bank street to pedestrians and cyclists would make crossing downtown much more dangerous for the most vulnerable people and must not occur. It must remain a public throughway if Virginia has any true commitment to a Vision Zero future.

It is of vital importance to our community to keep Bank Street open 24/7 for bicycle use and for pedustrian traffic.

The proposed regulation to restrict access to Capitol Square would sever a strong network of bike and pedestrian infrastructure that needs to be expanded rather than limited further. I strongly oppose the proposed restriction on this important artery in bike and pedestrian infrastructure. Please do not place a restriction on bicyclists and pedestrians. 

For decades, planning decisions in metro Richmond have effectively criminalized pedestrianism - relegating pedestrians to trespassing on private property in neighborhoods without sidewalks - to cutting through ditches and parking lots - but rarely have we literally made walking on public streets an arrestable offense. 

I write  to urge for keeping Bank St. a public right of way 24/7. 

If Richmond is serious about its "Vision Zero" commitment to zero pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities - we need to radically expand safe spaces for walking and biking, especially in the city's densest areas. 

Bank St is the most critical pedestrian and bicycle connection between downtown and eastern Richmond. There are no safe, convenient, or practical alternatives with Main St to the south and Broad St to the north; both very hostile to walkers and bikers. The updated Bank St design and access needs to include safe, convenient, dignified, and accessible pedestrian and bicycle access 24/7.

Please keep bank street open for bicycle and pedestrian use 24/7. We promise to behave. 

Please keep bank st open 24/7 to pedestrians and cyclists. There's no reason to close it to us.

"Filtered permeable" streets that allow bicycles and pedestrians through are essential to safe, convenient, and attractive networks that increase the amount of bicyclists (which in turn reduces traffic, easily maintains infra., keeps people healthy, cleans air, among numerous other benefits) pedestrians and bicyclists in Richmond must already deal with difficult conditions, especially when there is construction, having these "filtered permeable" connections are essential to deciding whether someone will bicycle or not. Bank Street, in particular, is an important corridor to access downtown and Shockoe Bottom, with close proximity to the Franklin Street bi-directional path. The continual fortifying of this street has made it increasingly difficult to utilize this link, forcing pedestrians and bicyclists onto more dangerous roads. To achieve Richmond, and Virginia's goals of providing for the safety and health of its citizens, our public facilities must be the leading example for encouraging bicycles and pedestrians, rather than being a detractor or hostile towards it. Thank you for your time. Access through Bank Street must be protected. 

Maintaining the security of the Pocahontas and Capitol Buildings can be achieved WHILE ensuring that everyone from tourists to workforce downtown to people simply travelling between points east and west of Bank street can easily and safely move through this part of the city.

Ensuring access through and across Bank Street for people on bikes and walking in particular should be a highest priority.

As a long time bike courier and manager of a local company, access to bank street is one of the ways I stay safe in a job with a lot of inherent risk.

Bank street is one of the only safe and effective ways to travel throughout downtown and shockoe bottom. As a cyclist broad street is unsafe and ineffective to get to shockoe bottom. Going through cary street or to canal can be unsafe and also add far more time to deliver to customers. Bank street provides access through the Franklin street bike lanes as well as a safe and easy route to 10th street and the many businesses and apartments we routinely deliver to.

If bank street is restricted even further it will make myself and my employees jobs far less safe and far less efficient in the downtown and shockoe area where congestion, speeding and red light running is a continuous issue.

please not only maintain 24/7 access to bank street but please help remove some of the barriers to cyclists that currently exist.

keep bank st open to cyclist/pedestrians 24/7

Access to bank street keeps cyclists safer and helps us move easily from center city to shockoe bottom. 
it connects the Franklin street bike lanes and enables us to use streets in an area with steep hills and speeding cars that’s relatively car free and much safer. 
I use bank street upwards of a dozen times a week some days I may use bank street upwards of 4-5 times a day.

please keep bank street open and add safer easier access for cyclists 

If I have to choose between riding up bank st and getting hit by a car that doesn't care about cyclists, I'm going up bank st. 

I haven't read much about why you're doing this, I have a strong suspicion that it's in regard to some pearl clutching idea of safety for state reps, but that's some second estate pre-french revolution

Please revise the proposal to allow for 24/7 access to pedestrian and active transportation infrastructure and currently used routing through and near Capitol Square.

This is a safer route for cyclists and pedestrians in the area to use. Whenever I bike to Shockoe this is the route I take. It’s feeds right into the train station, which conveniently has bike paths. 9am-6pm is not the only time citizens need to get from point A to point B. It needs to remain open 24/7 for fair access.

I live in the East End and use Bank St frequently to connect to the bike network, for work, leisure, and errands. It is the most direct way for me to connect to many of these things. Please keep it open, and I'd love to see the fences open enough for cyclists to get through so I don't have to inconvenience pedestrians by hopping onto the sidewalk. 

This is a safer route for cyclists and pedestrians in the area to use. Daytime is not the only time citizens need to travel. Bank street needs to remain open 24/7 for fair access.

Keep bank street open it is the only viable means for bike and pedestrian access to the bottom. 

Allow 24/7 access to Bank St for cyclists and pedestrians

As a resident of Church Hill and bike commuter, I use Bank Street day and night for commuting to my work as a physician, to go shopping, and for recreation throughout the city. This is an essential thoroughfare that requires 24/7 access for bikers and pedestrians. Please keep it open. 

Protect access to Bank St for pedestrians, bikes and other non-vehicular transportation options

Our bikeway ends at Franklin and 9th and the best and safesty way to reach 14th Street and the bikeway under Main Street Station is via Bank Street. 

Please don't block this pathway to bicycles.

Please keep Bank street open for pedestrians and bikes 24/7

Bank street is a critical connectionstreet for cyclists.  Additionally, it provides a rare safe passage transitioning from some streets.  Keep it open.

I am a local bike courier and I rely on bank street at night to safely access my delivery drops downtown. I don’t feel safe using other streets especially on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays due to drunk drivers. Please to not restrict. 

Bank St. is an extremely vital connection in the City's bike network and needs to be open and accessible 24/7 so people can easily and safely use our already limited multimodal network. 

Restricting access to this vital pedestrian and bike transit route would directly contradict the Vision Zero goals by significantly increasing the danger for pedestrians, cyclists and others trying to move around the city. Please do not restrict access.

Bank street is part of the commonwealth, please don’t restrict access.  I walk and bike here often, and I’d like to go more with my kids but legislators seem to see this street. As a no man’s zone adjacent to a war zone.

Bank Street was closed for security purposes while the new GA building was being built. When complete, it should revert back to its public use again. Restricting access is un-American. Please DO NOT restrict access to Bank Street to pedestrians, bikes, and the like.

Bank Street between the Pocahontas Building and the lower entrance to the Capitol building is a crucial part of Richmond's transportation network, especially its Bike Master Plan's network. It sits in the middle of Franklin Street's bike lanes, and the area is unavoidable for east-west traffic.

Public right of way needs to be maintained in that area, and bicyclists and pedestrians can peacefully coexist with legislators and officials in that area as they make connections to where they work, live, or even on the way to the Virginia Capital Trail.

Please Keep Bank Street Open For Pedestrian And Bicycles

Bank Street is easily the most important bike/ped bottleneck in the city. It is one of the only ways to move between downtown and Shockoe Bottom, and a regular part of my commute to work. Without it, I and many others will have to take a long and far deadlier detour around Broad St or Main St. The barriers and fences already placed on Bank St make it difficult to use, it should be fully opened and improved for the many people who rely on it.

Please represent the people who elected you.  There is not a call to close access from The People.  this is government trying to change rules where none are needed.  You need to spend time pass laws that help the People...  this legislation would just put another barrier between the elected and the People.

Vote No

Bank Street must be returned to free operation as a regular Richmond city street. It is not part of Capitol Square and shall not be considered part of the Capitol grounds in the future. All barricades, fencing and other obstacles should be removed from the public right of way immediately. They are a safety hazard and inexplicable barrier to citizen's freedom of movement. 

Under no circumstances should the Commonwealth further encroach on Bank Street. Bicyclists and pedestrians depend on Bank Street to use the Franklin Street bike lane and connect from Shockoe Bottom to Downtown and Monroe Ward. The Commonwealth should respect the public good and not create new public harms by restricting free movement.  

Greetings.

It is imperative that Franklin and Bank St. be recognized as a critical part of Richmond's bicycle network (as it already serves such), remains a "public right of way" and thus open 24/7 for safe bicycle and pedestrian movement, and that any upgrades to create a bicycle/pedestrian plaza on these streets should be of modern design. 

It's silly and imperialistic to close this space to limit public use - which is what this is really about. Keep our city free. 

Thank you.

The alternatives east-west cycling on either side of Capital Square are dangerous compared to Bank Street due to heavy motor vehicle traffic and one way streets. Keep Bank Street open to pedestrians and cyclists.

I'm a local bike courier and rely on the street for safer riding conditions at night as well as quicker access to certain areas.

Reopen Bank Street to all traffic. It is an essential part of Richmond's street grid and is unnecessarily included in the security theater you have created around Capitol Square. An open grid allows for more activity by all types of users where you have contributed to creating a dead zone in the middle of Downtown Richmond for most of the year when there is not a specific event happening at Capitol Square. Please think of the City as it is inhabited and experienced by pedestrians and cyclists, for whom a detour costs much more time than car drivers, and not merely as suburbanites driving into the city on occasion.

Bank Street is a great short cut for cyclists, joggers and walkers to keep us off the Main St. and other automobile congested streets while going to other bike/jogging lanes in downtown. Please do not further restrict downtown traffic flow, for safety.

Please ensure Bank St is recognized as a critical part of Richmond's bicycle network, remains a "public right of way" and thus open 24/7 for safe bicycle and pedestrian movement, and that any upgrades to create a bicycle/pedestrian plaza on Bank St should be of modern design. 

Capitol Square is a vital part of the city's transportation network and needs to be open to bike and walk through. For years I've biked through Capitol Square on my commute to work. Please keep the eastern extension of grace st open and do not block it off to bikes. Please think of the MCV workers who bike and walk through here at all hours of the morning and night.

While this proposed regulation stops short of limiting public transit through the surrounding area, it is of critical importance that the Bank St. bike lane remain accessible 24/7/365.  I personally commute in the early A.M. and I want to continue to use safe, dedicated lanes traveling to work and back. The city should be looking to expand the bicycle network.  Any possible restriction to safe, non-motor vehicle traffic is in conflict with the city's Richmond 300 Master plan, as well as, the Vision Zero plan.

Please keep Bank Street open as a part of the public right-of-way and open to pedestrian and bike through traffic 24/7.

Keep Bank Street Open to Bikes. 

Bank street is an important thoroughfare for people and bicycles in Richmond. Please don’t close it off. 

Please leave Bank Street open to public right-of-way and remove barriers prevent ease of passage. This is public property.