Guns don't kill, people kill people. Likewise, Semmes Avenue doesn't kill: Drivers kill people.

Semmes/Dundee/Forest Hill
Pedestrian Walk Button
circa 1950s

Semmes Avenue Minutiae

All the traffic lights in the world will not stop drunk drivers and speeding drivers.
Nor will they help igknowant people unable read the traffic and cross safely.

People who bellyache about Semmes Avenue being dangerous don't read about other Richmond streets that are more deadly.
With politicians, the squeeky wheels get oiled even if  it is working fine.

The fatalities on Semmes Avenue have nothing to do with the Semmes/Dundee/Forest Hill intersection.

The simple cost-effective Semmes Avenue solution is speed bumps
which not only slow traffic but reduce CO2 per mile driven.

Per available information, the intersection was build in the 1950s, thus it is about 70 years old.  The original plan was for Semmes shooting straght to Midolthian Turnpike bypassing the two Roanoke intersection.

Another planned construction was a pedestrian footbridge over Reedy Creek on the northside. You will note the difference in the width of the two sidewalks with the southside being twice as wides as the northside.

Looking over the northside bannister, you will see the foundation for a footbridge that was never installed.

P.S. It is only matter of time before Semmes Avenue, named after a Confederate naval officer, captain of C.S.S. Alabama, gets a new name, maybe Stephanie "Calming" Lynch.

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