This story has been updated to correct the status of a resolution related to placement a speed camera at the intersection of South Belvidere and Holly streets.The Richmond City Council on Monday evening voted to authorize the expansion of the use of speed cameras near schools, and in March will discuss specifically targeting a “high-risk” intersection on South Belvidere Street in the Oregon Hill neighborhood.
Whether the expansion occurs will now be up to Richmond police. Spokesperson James Mercante said the department would “undergo an evaluation process to review the associated staffing and financial burdens, as (Richmond police) would do before implementing any public safety program.”
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Under state code, the city’s speed camera program — which has seen 26 of the traffic monitoring devices installed across 13 separate school crossing zones — previously was strictly limited to highway work zones and crossing zones within 750 feet of school properties.
That changed in 2024, when Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill that allows localities to also place cameras near “high-risk intersections” up to 1,000 feet away from school properties. An intersection is considered “high-risk” if at least one traffic fatality has occurred at the intersection since 2014.
The alteration permitted Richmond officials to add high-risk intersections to the list of approved locations for speed cameras in Richmond — a move the City Council made through an ordinance passed during its Monday meeting.
In a corresponding resolution, 5th District Councilwoman Stephanie Lynch and 2nd District Councilwoman Katherine Jordan are specifically requesting a speed camera be stationed at the intersection of South Belvidere and Holly streets — which meets the criteria to be deemed “high-risk.”
The site is less than a thousand feet from the grounds of Open High School. On Sept. 18, 2021, a driver struck and killed pedestrian William Ashlock as Ashlock attempted to cross the southbound lanes of South Belvidere Street near the intersection.
The resolution also calls on Sabrina Joy-Hogg, the city’s interim chief administrative officer, to “consider identifying additional locations for the installation of photo speed monitoring devices and increasing the number ... deployed by the city.” Consideration of that resolution currently is scheduled for March 24.
Lynch: ordinance is ‘common sense’
Virginia is among the states that observe Dillon’s Rule — a legal principle that limits the scope of municipal governments to the powers explicitly granted them under state law. As a result, Virginia localities need approval from the General Assembly to enact or expand operations like the speed camera program.
Lynch
Lynch
It’s a rule that has often rankled local officials, who have at times reported feeling slowed or even prevented from attending to local matters.
But now that approval has been granted for expanded speed camera use, 5th District Councilwoman Stephanie Lynch, who co-patroned the ordinance alongside 2nd District Councilwoman Katherine Jordan, said it is “common sense to ... take advantage.”
“This ... encourages us to take a more thoughtful approach and have more community input in how and where we install photo speed ticketing,” Lynch said before the meeting.
During the proceedings, Kenya Gibson, who represents the 3rd District, said that while she supported the ordinance, she had concerns about the collection and retention of surveillance footage.
“I want to ask that we have a clear understanding of ... how long is the RPD going to be keeping that data collected by the speed cameras, and what are they planning to do with the data,” Gibson said.
“There is some apprehension in the public,” she added. “We want to make sure that we are keeping people safe, but it is a complex issue.”
Richmond police Chief Rick Edwards has said the cameras may not be used to conduct investigations not related to speeding tickets. Asked for comment, Mercante reiterated that fact on Monday night.
The ordinance ultimately passed unanimously. Whether officials act on it will ultimately be up to Richmond police, which enforces the citations issued by the speed cameras. Under city code, local law enforcement has the discretion to place the devices.
“RPD has the ability to monitor the program’s effectiveness and move these mobile safety cameras as needed when crash data indicates a higher-priority location has been identified,” Mercante said. He added that police consult with the Department of Public Works, the council, the mayor’s office and the Safe and Healthy Streets Commission when making such decisions.
Avula’s stance remains to be seen
Mayor Danny Avula, whose four weeks in office have been largely devoted to resolving and investigating the city’s water crisis, has yet to spell out his administration’s position on speed cameras.
Former Mayor Levar Stoney took a very strong stance in favor of increasing their use — and was among those apparently frustrated by limitations surrounding the devices.
“I believe the commonwealth needs to expand the program beyond ... construction zones, beyond school zones,” Stoney said during a September news conference. “It blows my mind that there are people in cities like ours who are losing their lives by someone just not paying attention or going too freaking fast.”
Under Stoney, the city launched Vision Zero, an initiative to “eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries.”
Richmond is trending in the right direction, Stoney said in September. But he also said the current structure of the speed camera program is “not enough” to accomplish the goals of Vision Zero.
Drivers cited by a speed camera are fined $50 for a first offense and $100 each for subsequent offenses. As of September, the cameras had generated around $200,000 in fines — but that was when nine of the cameras were still in the “grace period” phase, during which citations were waived and violators received only written warnings.
The city in 2023 signed a five-year, $5 million contract with Conduent, a New Jersey-based digital platform service, to install and manage the speed cameras. The operation of each device costs $3,629 per unit per month. Revenue is directed to the Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Program.
The division of Conduent responsible for the cameras has since been sold to Modaxo.
Cities With the Most Women in Construction
Cities With the Most Women in Construction
Photo Credit: Yuri A / Shutterstock
Construction has long been a male-dominated field. According to recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau, only 11.5% of payroll employees in the construction industry are women. However, a promising shift is underway. In recent years, the Department of Labor’s Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grant program has allocated millions of dollars to bolster women’s participation in industries like construction. And with the construction industry facing a massive worker shortage—estimated to exceed half a million workers—recruiting women into construction roles has become not just a priority, but a necessity for sustaining growth and meeting demand.
Female Construction Employment Over Time
The share of women in construction has increased steadily over the past several years
Source: Construction Coverage analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data | Image Credit: Construction Coverage
The share of women in construction has steadily increased over the past several years, marking progress in diversifying the industry. While women remain underrepresented in the workforce, the data reveals a gradual yet consistent upward trend in female employment within the construction sector.
Prior to 2016, women comprised approximately 9% of the construction workforce. This figure held relatively steady for over a decade, fluctuating slightly between 8.9% and 9.5% from 2003 to 2015. However, since 2016, the share of female employees in construction has climbed nearly every year, reaching 11.1% in 2022 and continuing to rise to 11.5% by 2023. This growth reflects both industry efforts to address workforce shortages and initiatives aimed at increasing diversity, such as targeted training programs and grants.
Female Construction Employment by Occupation Type
Women in the construction industry are most likely to work in office positions
Source: Construction Coverage analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data | Image Credit: Construction Coverage
Nationwide, over 1.3 million women are employed in the construction sector, compared to more than 10 million men. This gender disparity is evident not only in overall employment numbers but also in the types of roles occupied by men and women. Women are far more likely to work in office and administrative positions, while men dominate field-based roles.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up nearly 80% of the construction industry’s office and administrative roles. They also are more highly concentrated in professional, sales, and management roles compared to other occupations in the sector. However, female representation is significantly lower in roles traditionally associated with fieldwork. Only 4.5% of transportation positions and 4.1% of construction and extraction roles are filled by women. Representation is even lower in maintenance and repair jobs, as well as production roles, where women account for just 2.0% and 3.5% of workers, respectively.
Construction Industry Wages by Sex
Full-time female workers earn more in construction than in other industries; face smaller wage gaps
Source: Construction Coverage analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data | Image Credit: Construction Coverage
A major benefit for women in the construction industry is that they tend to command higher wages than female workers in other fields. The median annual wage for full-time female construction industry workers is $54,044, exceeding the median of $52,458 for women across all industries. This wage advantage highlights the potential of construction as a lucrative career path for women.
Interestingly, the opposite is true for men in construction, who typically earn less than their counterparts in other sectors. Male workers in the construction industry have a median annual wage of $56,805, compared to $64,705 for male workers across all industries.
Another noteworthy aspect of wages in construction is the narrower gender pay gap. While the national gender pay gap across all industries sits at approximately 18.9%, the gap in construction is significantly smaller at just 4.9%.
Geographic Differences in Female Employment in the Construction Industry
Alaska has the highest share of women working in the construction sector
Source: Construction Coverage analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data | Image Credit: Construction Coverage
While the construction industry remains male-dominated nationally, the underrepresentation of women in construction is less pronounced in certain parts of the country. This variation highlights regional differences in workforce dynamics, compensation levels, and diversity efforts within the industry.
Alaska and Hawaii lead the nation in female construction employment, with women making up 13.8% and 13.4% of the industry’s workforce, respectively. These states likely benefit from the relatively high wages offered in the construction sector, which can be an attractive factor for women entering the field. States in the Pacific Northwest, such as Washington (12.7%) and Oregon (12.5%), and parts of the South Atlantic, including Florida (13.3%) and Maryland (12.4%), also report female representation above the national average of 11.5%.
Similar trends can be observed at the metropolitan level. Metros like Jacksonville, FL (17.4%), Orlando, FL (16.1%), and New Orleans, LA (14.4%) rank among the top metros for female construction employment. At the opposite end of the spectrum, several locations in Texas, California, and the Northeast report concentrations of women in construction below 9.5%. In McAllen, TX, just 6.7% of construction industry workers are female—the lowest of any major U.S. metropolitan area.
Below is breakdown of female construction employment across the top and bottom states and metropolitan areas. The analysis was conducted by Construction Coverage, a website that provides construction insurance guides, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. For complete results, refer to the original post: Cities With the Most Women in Construction.
States With the Most Women in Construction
Cities With the Most Women in Construction
Methodology
Photo Credit: Yuri A / Shutterstock
The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey. One-year estimates were used for national statistics, while five-year estimates were used for state and MSA statistics. To determine the locations with the most women in construction, researchers at Construction Coverage ranked locations by the percentage of employees in the construction industry that are female. In the event of a tie, locations with the higher total female employment in the construction industry were ranked higher. Additionally, due to statistical significance limitations of the dataset, only the top 100 metropolitan areas by population with complete data were included in the analysis.
For complete results, see Cities With the Most Women in Construction on Construction Coverage.
