Richmond moves speed cameras from Jahnke Road to busy Cary Street corridor

Richmond’s pair of speed cameras that once watched over Westover Hills Elementary School on Jahnke Road have a new home: the 4400 block of Cary Street Road, right behind Mary Munford Elementary School.

The 30-day grace period at the new spot started today, March 3. Until April 2, drivers caught speeding will get warnings only. After that, citations go out to the registered vehicle owners.

The move came after the Richmond Department of Public Works and the Richmond Police Department reviewed camera data and found the Jahnke Road location was logging fewer speeding violations than other areas. Cary Street Road, on the other hand, has both heavy traffic and a documented speeding problem.

“More than 18,000 vehicles travel past the Mary Munford Elementary School campus on Cary Street Road each day, making it critical for drivers to slow down along this busy corridor, particularly during student arrival and dismissal times,” said RPD Special Operations Division Captain Anthony Jackson.

Mary Munford now has double coverage

The relocation makes Mary Munford the only school in the city’s safety camera program with two sets of cameras. The first set is already installed out front in the 4500 block of Grove Avenue, so drivers approaching from either direction will now be monitored.

An upcoming road construction project on Jahnke Road also factored into the decision. The city expects the work to naturally slow traffic during repairs, making the cameras less necessary there for now.

How the cameras operate

At the new Cary Street location, the cameras will run during school arrival and dismissal windows: 7:15 to 9:15 a.m. and 2:15 to 4:15 p.m. on days school is in session. The city also notes that data collected by the cameras can only be used for the safety program itself and isn’t available for other investigations.

Richmond currently has safety cameras at 13 school locations across the city, from Huguenot High School on Forest Hill Avenue to Thomas Jefferson High School on Malvern Avenue. If future data shows another school zone needs more attention, the city says cameras could be moved again.

More details on the program are available at rva.gov/police/safety-camera-program.