Richmond plans first extension of its Pulse bus rapid transit

When the plans for the Greater Richmond Transit Company’s Pulse bus rapid transit route were first proposed, the City of Richmond wasn’t certain where to locate the route’s western terminus. The Willow Lawn shopping center on Broad Street seemed best, but suburban Henrico County to the city’s west was reluctant to offer its right of way. Ultimately, the county conceded and even contributed $400,000 towards construction. Fast forward five years, and Henrico’s hesitance has transformed into enthusiasm as the county plans the Pulse’s first extension.

Go west, young bus

Ahead of the Pulse’s potential extension beyond its current 7.6 mile-long route, PlanRVA — Central Virginia’s metropolitan planning organization — is seeking public input for its West Broad Street BRT corridor analysis. Phase one of the two part extension study should be wrapped up within seven months and provide an idea of how far west the Pulse could go. The second phase of the study will dive into more specific station locations, cost estimates, and the need for transit prioritization infrastructure like dedicated lanes and TSP technology.

Survey reminder! Join us in sharing your thoughts on transit along the West Broad Street corridor in Henrico. Let us know what you think at https://t.co/Zc5tQiV2ug. Survey closes Friday, December 16. pic.twitter.com/NVbK06JNky

— GRTC Pulse (@GRTCPulse) December 11, 2022

After Richmond rolled out the red carpet for the Pulse this summer, the BRT is just 0.6 miles shy of the minimum length of bus-only lanes in order to qualify for federal state of good repair grants. With just two years to go until the region could begin losing out on millions in maintenance dollars, Todd Eure — Henrico’s director of transportation and development as well as a GRTC board member — is certain Central Virginia will pull together and not leave any dollars on the table.

“Whether that last stretch will be picked up with an extension or a retrofit of the existing dedicated lanes, we will get those grants,” he said. “It was a missed opportunity the first time around, but I think we can still get there relatively quickly.”

Eure’s thinking around the dedicated lanes is reflective of Henrico’s broader approach to increasing the footprint of public transportation in the county.

“The ultimate goal is to get out to Short Pump, but we recognize that the Pulse expansion is an iterative process,” he said. “As you go west along Broad Street the development tends to be a bit newer and more spread out, so that could be well-served by local routes. A few years down the road we can look at another extension to Innsbrook.”

Phase 1 of the extension study should set up the Richmond region to apply for SMART SCALE dollars from the state as well as RAISE grants from the federal government. Once all of the environmental and engineering work is completed in phase 2, construction is slated to begin in fiscal year 2025.

Other expansions

In addition to the two new stations likely to be built west of the current Willow Lawn terminus, fiscal year 2025 is also when construction will start on the Malvern Avenue infill station between the Scott’s Addition and Staples Mill Pulse stations. Designed to serve the hundreds of new apartments being erected along Broad Street in the Sauer’s Gardens neighborhood, the new station could also make the local service Route 50 redundant, freeing up two drivers to run different routes.

Currently, Henrico County is working on its first comprehensive plan update in decades with an eye towards allowing more housing and retail along its top transit corridors. Ensuring all of Broad Street out to Short Pump is finally served by sidewalks is a key component.

The segment between Willow Lawn and Pemberton Road is already fully funded, and construction is already underway in Innsbrook. Although VDOT and the county have a longer term plan to help people walking and biking traverse the Interstate 64 interchange near Short Pump, the one by Glenside allows for “no easy solutions,” according to Eure.

“Highway interchanges tend to be barriers to cyclists and pedestrians, but there are workarounds,” he said. “Currently the Glenside interchange is too physically constrained to run sidewalks, so a solution there is further off to be honest.”

For Henrico County, one of the most important parts of the Pulse expansion will be a new park and ride facility. After NIMBY neighbors killed plans for a park and ride component of a new housing development at Willow Lawn earlier this year, the county has been on the hunt for the perfect parcel to serve commuters. The recent announcement that Genworth plans to abandon its current Reynolds Crossing HQ in favor of a new Innsbrook campus further west has focused all eyes on that site’s redevelopment.

“Nothing has been finalized, but it’s safe to say there is interest in partnering with that redevelopment,” said Eure. “We could make the planned park and ride into a mini transfer location, and it would be a potential win-win between new transit and new development. There is potential to realign the 18, the 91, the 79, and other routes to end up at this transfer plaza too.”

The first change GRTC’s riders are likely to witness is a new western terminus for the Route 19 to Short Pump. The freshly-constructed Sheltering Arms rehabilitation center just over the Goochland County line lies less than a mile west of where the 19 ends. If approved by Goochland County and the GRTC board, the extension would become the first local-route bus service in one of the Richmond region’s six rural outer counties.

“When we did the costs in terms of operators and run times this one was pretty neutral,” explained Adrienne Torres, GRTC’s Chief Development Officer. “A lot of our expansion services have been limited because of operator shortage. This one technically could happen whenever they are ready.”

Torres brought forward the idea at GRTC’s development committee meeting last week. Reflecting Henrico’s pragmatic approach to public transit expansion, Eure sees the positive potential for this first western expansion ahead of what could become many more in the coming years: “It’s very doable, it just has not been done yet.”