CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WTVR)--Some consider foot travel on Jeff Davis Highway in Chesterfield, to be pretty risky.
So now, with the help of a grant, the county is stepping in to help.
When it's all said and done the plan hopes to make this corridor safer for pedestrians; specifically, in the Falling Creek area.
Nateshia Bowles walks along the Jeff Davis Highway at least twice a day. She says it’s dangerous, but she has no other choice. She lives near Marina Drive and has no transportation, so she has to walk.
She navigates a stretch of highway that sees about 22,000 cars daily, Bowles tries her best to not carry her one-year old daughter with her. Sometimes that can’t be avoided. Thursday we spotted her as she nervously made it across four lanes of traffic on Jeff Davis Highway, with her toddler in tow.
“The cars are coming down where I am so fast and so I’m kind of like they need sidewalks to make it safer,” said Bowles.
That’s a concern Chesterfield county leaders are addressing right now. They’re in the second phase of the Jeff Davis Corridor Enhancement project.
The county’s working with the Jefferson Davis Association and the plan is to install sidewalks in that Falling Creek area near Marina Drive and Parkdale.
Latisha Jenkins, the county’s Revitalization Manager, explains that a grant of more than $400,000 dollars will help them accomplish this critical goal and more.
“We’re also going to relocate and line up a median at Marina Drive and Parkdale Road,” she said. Jenkins also emphasized that it’s all about safety. “We do have a lot of residents hit as they walk as well as not being seen because there’s not a lot of lighting along the corridor,” she added.
Along with new sidewalks, curbs and landscaping, added lighting is also in the plan. Pedestrians like Bowles are relieved to learn work begins in the next ten months.
