If skeptics are looking for examples of how building roads and highways “induces” more traffic, they need look no farther than Rt. 288, the four-lane circumferential highway serving the southwest quadrant of metropolitan Richmond. As luck (or politics) would have it, the highway runs through the property of Sen. John C. Watkins, R-Powhatan. According to Style magazine, Watkins and four partners are planning a 655-acre, mixed use development complex at the highway’s intersection with Rt. 60 in Chesterfield County.
On the positive side, reading between the lines of Style’s description, the Watkins project appears to be inspired by Neourbanism design principles, creating a mix of office, residential and retail uses in a pedestrian friendly environment–a development pattern that generates fewer and shorter car trips than conventional “sprawl” style development. Though traffic inducing from a regional perspective, this project is less deliterious than typical development. Sayeth Style:
All of the development groups … are working together to ensure that the architectural design and development of each portion of Watkins Centre is consistent. Apartments and condos would be built on top of retail shops and offices, mimicking an urban streetscape. The office development would meld architecturally with the new lifestyle center, and vice versa.
Still, the regional impact cannot be ignored. Right now, there are relatively few cars using Rt. 288 because the highway doesn’t serve existing development. The highway was built to accommodate commercial development anticipated in the West Creek office park north of the James River in Goochland County. By giving rise to the Watkins project, which would not be developed at this time were it not for the existence of the highway, 288 promises to pull a significant amount of development to the metropolitan fringe.
Thanks to the mixed-use nature of the project, some homeowners may work and shop locally. But it’s a good bet that many of them will commute very long distances to West Creek. Others will commute long distances back toward the metropolitan core. Others will drive long distances to the newest shopping malls in Short Pump and Stony Point. In sum, from a regional perspective, 288 and the Watkins project may well induce Chesterfield County residents, in the aggregate, to drive greater distances than ever before.
To a large extent, 288 will be creating its own demand. Meanwhile, because it was so expensive to build, the funding has been exhausted for congestion-mitigation projects closer to the urban core.
