According to ehuacom, Richmond is the capital of the state of Virginia, in the United States. The city has 227,000 inhabitants and an agglomeration of 1,324,000 inhabitants (2021).
According to mcat-test-centers, Richmond is located on the James River and is 150 kilometers south of Washington, 130 kilometers northwest of Norfolk and 220 kilometers northeast of Raleigh. The city has 227,000 inhabitants and has an agglomeration that is 6 times as large, which extends over 35 kilometers from east to west and 45 kilometers from north to south. Richmond is not a well-known city, due to its proximity to the major city and capital of the US, Washington, DC The city is located in a densely forested area, like many cities on the east coast of the United States. Like many cities, the city has lost population, although the decline has been limited. In 1950 the city had 230,000 inhabitants, compared to 198,000 in 2000. In 2010 the city had grown slightly to 204,000 inhabitants. However, the agglomeration is growing fairly quickly and in 2020 had 1.3 million inhabitants.
Road network
Richmond’s highway network.
I-95 in Richmond.
Richmond has a fairly extensive highway network and is a hub for several highways, such as east-west I-64 and north-south I-95. I-85 joins I-95 just south of town. I-195 forms a short connecting route near the center and I-295 forms a three-quarter ring around the city. In addition, several State Routes have been implemented as a highway or toll road. The three toll roads are SR-76, SR-195, and SR-895, and SR-288 forms a west and south bypass. A striking feature of the motorway network is the considerable road capacity.
History
The metropolitan area of Richmond is a relatively late grower and overflow area of Washington, DC although there is little forenzism between the two cities, the distances are too great for that. Construction of the highway network in the Richmond area began before the Interstate Highway system, when construction began in 1955 on the Richmond – Petersburg Turnpike, a toll road that would later become part of Interstate 95. This was opened in 1958 as the first highway in the region. Also a small piece of the current Interstate 85 was part of this. In 1962 and 1963, I-95 was extended both south and northward from the region, as a toll-free highway under the Interstate Highway program. The link between Richmond and Washington was completed in 1964. Interstate 64 was opened by the Richmond region between 1966 and 1968, making the city a junction for two major routes.
It would remain this way, no other long-distance routes would pass through the region. However, further plans were made for highways in and around Richmond. In 1968, a plan was made for a full Richmond Beltway, consisting of Interstate 295 and State Route 288. Its construction did not start immediately. In the 1970s, freeways were built in the center, with Interstate 195 opened in 1975 and the Downtown Expressway in 1976, as a toll road. A little earlier, in 1973, the first section of the Powhite Parkway opened, also as a toll road.
A second round of new highways was conducted in the 1980s when construction began on the Richmond Ring Road. In 1980 and 1981, Interstate 295 opened as a semicircle around the north side of Richmond, starting and ending on I-64. Between 1988 and 1992 it was extended southwards past Petersburg. At the same time, the southern portion of State Route 288 was opened in 1988 and 1989. After that, the construction of new highways stalled, during the 90s little was done on new highways. However, the I-95 became toll-free at that time. In 2002, State Route 895, the first new toll road, opened in 15 years, which is called the Pocahontas Parkway. This highway was intended to be Interstate 895, but could not get this status because it is a toll road. In 2004 the most recent new highway opened, the western part of the ring road (SR-288).
Congestion
The newer highways in Richmond have a large capacity with sometimes 2×4 lanes for intensities around 70,000 vehicles per day. The through highways I-95 and I-64 are somewhat less spacious in capacity, although really significant delays do not occur that much. The highway network around Richmond is not really busy.
