Good morning, RVA! It's 67 °F, and the high today is 80 °F. Not in the 80s, just regular 80. This is the first of three really temperate days before big heat comes back in to town on Sunday and sets up shop for at least an entire week. My recommendations is to get out there and spend some time enjoying the cooler temperatures! Maybe visit your closest park, take a couple pictures, and send me your favorites.
Water cooler
Drivers, be aware that tolls on some local highways will change tonight at midnight, with the Downtown Expressway toll increasing from 70 cents to 90 cents (a full dollar if you pay with cash). This bit on the RMTA website, the group that owns and manages the DTE, stood out to me: “Driving the RMTA Expressway System is a choice. Therefore, we strive to be a safer and faster form of travel around the Richmond metropolitan community than the alternatives.” While it feels like a road wrote that sentence, I do agree. We should do everything we can to make commuting on the Downtown Expressway the preferred choice for drivers and make commuting on Main/Cary to avoid the tolls a bad time. It should be worth a dollar to hop on the Expressway and leave Main and Cary Streets to local traffic, buses, people on bikes, and the everyday pedestrian activity you find in a great urban neighborhood. The easiest way to do this, of course, is to narrow the two streets—heck, maybe even throw a bus-only lane and bike lane in there, too.
Yesterday, the Virginia Department of Health announced “a statewide outbreak of meningococcal disease,” which sounds scary, but VDH notes that the “risk to Virginia’s population is low.” Most folks have already been vaccinated against meningococcal disease, since it’s a school-required vaccine, but if for some reason you haven’t, or if you fall into one of the high-risk groups, you’ll want to talk to your medical provider about getting topped up. Tap through for some recommendations to help you stay safe that, luckily, are a lot of the same ways to keep yourself from catching COVID-19, too.
I don’t put much stock in “U.S. News & World Report,” which, to me, feels like it exists solely off of its own invented industry of ranking educational institutions. That said, I do put a lot of stock into highlighting great things coming out of Richmond. So, with that in mind, you should know that, according to U.S. News & World Report, RPS’s Open High School and Richmond Community High School are, respectively, the #2 and #3 high schools in Virginia. Sean Jones at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Deep Run High School is the top-ranked school in Henrico (#11) and Midlothian High School the top-ranked school in Chesterfield (#34). Like I said, I think this is a mostly invented list, but, still, great work everyone.
VPM’s Whittney Evans, in her (I think) first “Curious Commonwealth” column, answers a question that I asked a friend literally this past Monday: “Can I take figs off of trees in the public right of way?” To spoil it, mostly yes but also no? Probably maybe? Questions like this typically don’t have a real answer and usually boil down to “don’t be weird about it and maybe ask for permission first.” Also, fig trees are rad, but grow quickly and attract a lot of animal-kingdom attention. Keep it in mind if you plan on plopping some in the ground!
16 miles, seven pools, five hours, one celebration of bikes and swimming...it’s Ride and Dive weekend! This coming Saturday at 12:00 PM meet up at the Fairmount Pool (2000 U Street) and attempt to ride bikes to every single one of Richmond’s public pools before they close for the year. After hitting the last stop, Powhatan Pool, head over to Triple Crossing Fulton for pizza and beers. I think this sounds like just the funnest, most wholesome event, and I’m glad it exists.
This morning's patron longread
The Mystery of the Bloomfield Bridge
Submitted by Patron Sam. Do you ever come across something in your neighborhood and wonder why it exists? Probably all of the time! But then do you spend two months digging through libraries, archives, and calling people on the phone to find the answer? Probably not! I absolutely loved this piece that asks and answers why a pedestrian bridge over a highway in Minneapolis exists where it does, connecting mostly nothing to nothing. No spoilers, but I would love if someone did a similar look (but was maybe way less intense about it) into why this pedestrian bridge over the Downtown Expressway in Richmond exists.
This pedestrian bridge crosses I-494 just west of the Minneapolis Airport. It connects Bloomington to Richfield. I drive under it often and I wondered: why is it there? It's not in an area that is particularly walkable, and it doesn't connect any establishments that obviously need to be connected. So why was it built? I often have curious thoughts like this, but I dismiss most of them because if I answered all of them I would get nothing else done. But one day I was walking out of a Taco Bell and found myself at the base of the bridge. That only raised MORE questions! Why did the bridge just lead to some grass? Why isn't there a sidewalk? What is the point? It makes no sense!
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Picture of the Day
Cute tooth graffiti on Belvidere.
