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Think there’s no such thing as too much parking? Take a look at Tysons Corner, where there’s more parking than jobs, more parking than office space, more parking than in downtown Washington.
Using Google Maps BeyondDC plotted out land used for parking (red) versus land used for everything else (not red) in what is commonly considered the most central part of Tysons Corner.
Is it any wonder Tysons is choked in traffic? How could a place laid out like that possibly be any other way? It is no way to build a city. The Silver Line, and redevelopment associated with it, cannot happen fast enough.
Why now is the question we’d like to ask DC Councilman Jim Graham, who is stalling construction of the Anacostia streetcar because he wants to know “where it’s located and what it’s going to achieve”, “how much it’s going to cost”, “what other routes were considered” and “why were they rejected.” To answer those questions Graham has scheduled a public hearing for July 14.
What’s got us confused is that that information has all been available for years. Why is Graham asking those questions now, two-and-a-half months after DDOT solicited construction bids for the project, rather than say in 2005 when DDOT was going through its corridor selection process?
It’s hard to tell whether Graham is stalling because he doesn’t understand the benefits of streetcars in general or only has questions about the Anacostia line specifically. It’s possible he has no objections and just wants to look democratic by holding a public meeting. We don’t know, but in any event, getting streetcars up and running is the single most important issue in District transportation planning, so we’re taking Ryan Avent’s suggestion and writing to the Councilman for answers.
Update: (July 8) Mr. Graham’s response to our email: I may have been misconstrued. I am not against the project. I wanted an oversight hearing on this, some $60 million expense…something that has not occurred.
The Post’s recent editorial pitting urban pedestrians versus suburban drivers has already gotten lots of coverage in the urblogosphere. BeyondDC will just chime in to note that the Post’s attached online poll of suburbanites is as of this writing running 53%-41% in favor of the District’s pedestrian-friendly policies. The separate poll for DC residents is even more lopsided in favor of pedestrians.
DDOT has suspended its plan to force intercity buses to abandon Chinatown and load at L’Enfant.
That’s suspended, not eliminated, just to be clear.
DDOT says they are taking a step back from a final decision in order to look at other options and give the public a chance to weigh in, but that the possibility of moving intercity buses to a single terminal somewhere is still on the table.
That works for us. BeyondDC has said all along that a dedicated terminal is a fine idea, it’s just that L’Enfant is the wrong place for it.
The images below and at right are from Moskow Linn Architects’ winning entry in the Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture Contest. The idea is to dispense Zipcars in a pez-like automated parking lift, thus providing a large number of share-cars at one location without using a lot of land.
As far as we know this is a concept only; Zipcar has no plans to actually build anything like it. After all, the up-front costs would no doubt be high, if not prohibitive.
On the other hand, if the city is willing to fork out $42 million to subsidize unnecessary parking at DC USA, maybe a real public good like car-sharing has a chance.
Does it make sense for the Federal Transit Administration to force the District to operate a redundant bus network on top of WMATA specifically to ferry one segregated group of bus riders to and from destinations already served by MetroBus?
Does it make sense for the FTA to write regulations for the specific purpose of hurting government transit investments and subsidizing private ones?
Does it make sense for the FTA to outlaw a practice that costs the District $5 million a year, forcing the city to accomplish the same exact objective for $20-25 million per year?
Shirlington Station when it was under construction
MetroExtra, WMATA’s brand for limited routes
Washington and New York are the only two metropolitan regions in the country in which rail carries more people than buses. In New York that’s because the rail system is so extensive. In Washington it’s partly because we have a good Metro, but also partly because we’ve never given our bus system the support it needs to meet its potential. For a long time buses have been the stepchild of our regional transit network. Sure, they exist, and sure, they carry a lot of riders, but for decades they’ve been largely ignored, and bus facilities have been low quality.
In recent years regional leaders have come around to notice that we’re not using buses as efficiently as we could, and have begun making plans to do something about that. That thinking was one of the reasons WMATA picked bus expert John Catoe as agency CEO in 2007.
Shirlington Station, opened for business on June 25, is the first enclosed bus station in Arlington, and one of a very few in the region. Along with the Columbia Pike streetcar and the Potomac Yard Transitway the station is part of a concerted effort on Arlington’s part to bring quality transit facilities to the more urban parts of the county not served directly by Metro. A climate controlled waiting room with restrooms, a Commuter Store, and an off-street loading area is certainly a big step up from the curb.
WMATA’s 30s line runs across the length of the District on Wisconsin and Pennsylvania Avenues and carries more than 20,000 daily riders. The overhaul of the 30s line, which begins on June 29, will provide local shuttles and cross-town limiteds in addition to the trunk local route currently operating. The limited routes will only stop at a handful of locations, speeding long-distance riders across town much more quickly than the locals. The limiteds, which as WMATA buys new buses will eventually be branded as MetroExtra, are part of a program to provide more rail-like rapid bus service on major corridors. MetroExtra is already running on Georgia Avenue, and we can expect to see it on other trunk corridors in the future. The model is Metro Rapid, a highly successful program in LA that Catoe had a hand in.
Anyone looking for photos of American rail transit should start their search at NYCsubway.org’s outstanding photo library. Their categorized-by-city collection is easy to browse and incredibly thorough.
But that’s strictly business. How about a little fun? At SkyscraperPage a Kansas City photographer has posted 64 unlabelled transit pictures. Can you identify them all? BeyondDC’s answers, a couple of which could be wrong, are available, but try it yourself before peeking.
