The fencing around the Monument Avenue traffic circle that used to house a monument to Robert E. Lee has now come down.
After the monument was removed by the city in September 2021, the future of the traffic circle was somewhat uncertain. In October 2022, the Richmond Planning Commission approved temporary landscaping plans. In the months since, over 6,000 plants and 28 trees have been planted in the acre-ish plot that lies in the heart of the Fan.
The fencing around the area has stayed up this long mostly to protect the landscapers from traffic. Now that the work is “99% complete,” the fencing has been removed and the area is open to the public once more. YME Landscape, the Black-owned company that has handled the project, says all that remains — as of the fence’s removal — is to touch up the mulch.
