Jefferson Avenue is not a particularly long road. But it’s been a very long road to get it redesigned for pedestrian safety.

As The Lookout has previously reported, the Coalition for A Safer Jefferson Avenue (CFSJA) and other concerned community members have been pushing Richmond’s Department of Public Works (DPW) to improve the east-west artery for over a decade. Ed Fendley, a lead for the group, can’t believe where the time has gone since 2014, when the Environmental Protection Agency selected Richmond as one of the cities for its “Greening America’s Capitals” program. The federal agency produced a plan to improve Jefferson Ave. the following year.

“Like a lot of community advocates, I've learned over the years, [I] got into this saying ‘I'll see if I can help out, y’know, devote a few months and try to lend a hand here, and then I'm gonna dip out,” he told me in a phone interview last June, when DPW finally released the initial round of blueprints for the second half of the four-phase project. The first chunk of the street-safety makeover was completed on the eastern end of Jefferson Ave. in 2020; the second was completed last summer, bringing bump-outs, speed humps, and shorter crosswalks to the stretch by Pizza Bones, as well as back-in parking in front of Spotty Dog and across from Union Market.

Roughly 12 months later, Fendley still hasn’t gotten the chance to dip out. (Frankly, his evident passion for safer streets makes me suspect he’ll be constitutionally incapable of abandoning the cause even once the Jefferson Ave. redesign is complete.) But this past week, the CFSJA received word from DPW that funding has been lined up for the final two phases of the seemingly interminable multi-million-dollar redesign. The end, while not quite “nigh,” is very much in sight.

Email correspondence between city officials and community members last week reviewed by The Lookout indicates that Phase 3 of the project—from E. Leigh to E. Clay Sts.—is fully funded, and scheduled to begin this fall. Phase 4, which runs from E. Clay to E. Marshall Sts., is also a go for the FY29-30 budget, with the state kicking in some funding. As it stands, that final segment of work will take place in 2028, some 14 years after the EPA first flagged Richmond’s deadly streets for improvement. It’s not happening on the timeline Fendley, fellow CFSJA organizers Mary Field and Elaine Odell, and East Enders seeking safer streets may have hoped for all those years ago, but folks, it is happening.

The Lookout will have more reporting to come on how a road redesign project spanning half a dozen blocks wound up taking almost a decade and a half. (If you have tips on that front, get in touch. Anonymity available.) But for now, some highlights from the so-called 90% plan for Phases 3 & 4:

The full plan can be viewed in The Lookout’s share drive.

Fendley is pleased with the progress, but he’s not stopping there. “Let's make sure this much-appreciated progress toward a safer and greener neighborhood is just a first step,” he exhorted his safe-streets confreres.

The work can’t wait. After all, as a major national traffic study published in the journal Traffic Findings in February 2026 indicates, Richmond’s per-capita traffic fatalities from 2018-2022 were more than double those of Washington, D.C., the region’s largest city. Richmonders have become painfully familiar with pedestrians being slaughtered by reckless drivers in the streets, and the rarity of commensurate criminal penalties for the same. The driver responsible for killing beloved director of The Valentine Museum and longtime Church Hill resident Bill Martin, for example, was charged in early May with just three Class 1 misdemeanors.

Completing Jefferson Ave. is another step in the right direction on the road to actual street safety in our city. But 2028 is another two years off, and there are many more steps to take. Mayor Danny Avula and 7th District Councilmember and City Council President Cynthia Newbille, two of Richmond’s most powerful elected officials, must find the political will to pick up the pace.

Possum Poetry is original verse written exclusively for The Lookout by Penelope Poubelle, the Lookout’s litter critter-at-large. If you spot roadside trash you’d like her to immortalize in doggerel, email a photo to [email protected]. All submissions anonymous!

Courtesy of Lookout reader Elizabeth Klaczynski, the latest edition of East End Animal Friend is live now, and cute as hell:

As a reminder, East End Animal Friend is a new recurring feature spotlighting the many creature companions of Church Hill and its surrounds. Fill out this form to introduce your beloved animal(s) to the neighborhood in a future edition of The Lookout!

On Thursday morning, Sam Patterson, the full-time council liaison for 7th District Cm. Newbille emailed various individuals and groups in the neighborhood with two city flyers announcing follow-up meetings about the now-paused pétanque project in Chimborazo Park. The flyers can be found in The Lookout’s share drive. The meetings are:

As I noted on the L’Affair Pétanque Liveblog, a couple tipsters reached out with word that Facebook’s app warned that the flyers “may have been created” with an artificial intelligence program. For example:

Mayor Danny Avula has been an outspoken fan of the controversial and wildly unpopular technology, and has advised his administration that it may be used in compliance with five “ethical principles” that took effect in June 2025. One of those principles is “transparency,” stipulating that “Citizens shall be advised when they are interacting with AI.” The flyers—which appear to have been produced by the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities—do not include disclosures that they contain AI-generated content. The Lookout has contacted the city’s Office of Strategic Communications & Civic Engagement for more information on who produced the flyers, and whether AI tools were used in their creation.

Happenings on The Hill is a digital bulletin board for events, causes, and other items of interest to East Enders that don’t necessarily merit full editorial treatment. Got something for a future edition? Email the relevant details, links, etc. to [email protected] for consideration!

Want to share your Very CHill Photo from the neighborhood? Email it to [email protected] with your name as you’d like it to appear for publication, and the camera you shot it on.