Broad Street Oases

What if we were to plan for the insertion of “oases”, intermittent pockets of people oriented development that become identifiable nodes along Broad Street with their own identity?

Broad Street as it exists in Richmond’s downtown is what you might refer to as an ‘A’ street: it is the primary, life-giving street, the center of activity. Sidewalks connecting storefronts connecting restaurants connecting art galleries connecting businesses connecting hotels connecting apartments. Life! 

But as it stretches, mile after banal mile, into the western suburbs of the surrounding county, it retains the role of artery, but loses, well - life. Seeing people out en masse filling the sidewalks downtown for a recent First Fridays art walk was exciting. Seeing any person on Broad Street west of the city conjures feelings of sympathy. Did their car break down? Are they lost? We feel sorry for that poor (usually singular) person…

If you’re like me, you probably approach Broad Street as follows: travel I-64 to one of the major cross roads, Gaskins, Parham, or Glenside, for example, rather than drive the length of Broad Street. Then, as you approach Broad, you try to remember: do you need to turn left, or right? And when thinking about going somewhere, you probably can’t remember where on the miles and miles of Broad it is. Thank God for GPS.

But what if we started creating overlay districts along the route that created distinct, identifiable places, with a name, some public realm, and some character? They could easily be linked by the Pulse, as the width of Broad would better accommodate a bus lane as it goes out of the city. 

Imagine for a minute, actual public realm at intervals along Broad Street! Get off a bus and be greeted by restaurants fronting a public square filled with people, that (gasp!) aren’t in cars - tremendous!