Transportation in Richmond, Virginia
The first stagecoach lines to Richmond were established during the War of 1812, and the first regular steamboat service began on the James River in 1815.
Early the 19th century, the Virginia Board of Public Works began funding transportation infrastructure improvements, stimulating such private enterprises as the James River and Kanawha Canal, the Chesterfield Railroad, and numerous turnpikes.
Long championed in the Virginia General Assembly by Whitmell P. Tunstall, the Richmond and Danville Railroad to the southwest was completed in 1854.
Defenses at Drewry's Bluff blocked the Union Navy from access to Richmond (and its sister city Manchester) via the river.
After the Civil War, Richmond's (and Manchester's) transportation infrastructure was quickly rebuilt, and improvements and expansion resumed.
Railroad construction workers promptly started laying tracks on the towpath creating a new water-level rail route which was soon purchased by the C&O.
Designed by electric power pioneer, Frank J. Sprague, the trolley system opened its first line in January 1888.
As part of a national trend, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the electrically powered street railway systems accelerated Richmond's expansion.
Rails of interurban streetcar services formed a suburban network from Richmond extending north to Ashland and south to Chester, Colonial Heights, Petersburg and Hopewell.
A major issue for Manchester and Richmond residents in the 19th and early 20th century were the toll bridges over the James River.
Key features of the consolidation agreement were requirements that a "free bridge" across the James River be maintained indefinitely.
In 1901, Richmond's Main Street Station was built by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
Designed in the neoclassical style by the architect John Russell Pope, passenger service to the station ceased in 1975.
By World War II, a network of highways linked Richmond and the surrounding region with other communities and other states.
The RMA was "a small state agency that was empowered to design, acquire right-of-way, construct, operate, collect tolls, and maintain the Richmond Expressway System.
VDOT built the Powhite Extension (State Route 76) located in Chesterfield County as a separate toll road which opened in 1988.
Greyhound Lines and the National Trailways Bus System consolidated services formerly in downtown Richmond at a new terminal near the Boulevard exit of I-95 and I-64 in the 1980s.
Commuters could purchase (much) lower cost passage, leading to local humor to the effect that through traffic from out-of-state was paying for the road, a position founded in some truth.
On June 1, 1987, the Richmond Metropolitan Authority (RMA) introduced toll tokens for use on the Powhite Parkway and the Downtown Expressway.
In late 1996, the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation requesting the RMA and VDOT to expedite the implementation of an ETC system.
In studying the costs associated with ETC, RMA management determined that a toll increase would be necessary to cover the installation and higher operating expenses.
These highways are: A full outer beltway loop, approximately 70 miles long, could be designated by combining the preceding major sections with: The only tolls along such a "virtual beltway" of Richmond would be on the State Route 895 portion, which includes the modern and costly to build high-rise Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge over the shipping channel of the navigable portion of the James River below the Port of Richmond.
A partial listing of Virginia State Highways include: The James River bisects the metropolitan area.
It receives principal funding from the Federal Transit Administration, Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, and local municipalities.
Although no rail mass transit services are currently operational, Richmond has been considering plans for a small streetcar system in the downtown area for several years.
Intercity bus service is provided by the following carriers, with its terminal at 2910 N Boulevard: The Richmond area has two railroad stations served by Amtrak.
The suburban Staples Mill Road Station is located on a major north–south freight line and receives all service to and from all points south including, Raleigh, Durham, Savannah, Newport News, Williamsburg and Florida.
Richmond International Airport is not served by public transit, other than a little-used GRTC bus route from downtown that runs only five times per day, during the morning and afternoon rush hour Monday through Friday.
The Port of Richmond (locally known as Deepwater Terminal) offers deep water connections on the navigable portion for the James River east to Hampton Roads, known as the "world's greatest natural harbor", which is located only 18 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.
