BeyondDC attended last evening’s kick-off meeting for the Union Station Intermodal Transportation Center Feasibility Study. We attended primarily to get an answer to the question of whether this is something the city wants, or whether it’s a developer’s scheme to make their own property worth more.

It’s been widely reported that Akridge intends to build a second concourse for rail passengers as part of its air rights development over the station tracks. That worries us, because if a new concourse is too far removed from the existing concourse it could pull rail passengers away from the historic depot, which in BeyondDC’s humble and totally unbiased opinion is the most fabulous big train station on this continent. We don’t want a new station two blocks north of Union; we just want Union to be the best it can be.

Our fears were assuaged first when Congresswoman Norton spoke about the decade of effort she has put into getting this plan started, and second when we put our question about the concourse to Ddot planners directly, who informed us in no uncertain terms that the intention here is to build a single “seamless” station, not two stations two blocks apart.

Phew.

Other good news: Assuming all goes well, the Greyhound terminal will be moved to the Union Station bus deck, and though Union Station isn’t one of the initial SmartBike terminals, it will be added soon enough.

Greater Greater Washington has more on the meeting.

Update:GGW also has a post up showing the plan for the renovated Columbus Circle.

Barack Obama in a speech before some 75, 000 people in Portland, OR on May 18:

“It’s time that the entire country learn from what’s happening right here in Portland with mass transit and bicycle lanes and funding alternative means of transportation. That’s the kind of solution that we need for America. That’s the kind of truth telling that we are going to do in this campaign and when I am President of the United States of America. We don’t need gimmicks.”

Acela trains in Northeast. Photo courtesy W. Hill via RailPictures.net.

House Resolution 6003 is a bill before Congress that, if approved, would:

• Completely fund Amtrak for the next five years.
• Solicit a request for proposals to improve high-speed rail in the Northeast Corridor to more European standards, with the specific goal of reducing travel time between New York and Washington to less than two hours on an express train.
• Instruct the Department of Transportation to identify potential new routes for both basic Amtrak service and high-speed service, including a specific study of high-speed rail in the Southeast Corridor from Washington to Charlotte.
• Appropriate $60 million for a new tunnel alignment in Baltimore, to be approved by 2013.
• Authorize a grant to add a third track and make other improvements to the rail line between Washington and Richmond, improving the prospects of adding VRE service on the Fredericksburg line.
• Instruct the Federal Railroad Administration to study the extent to which biofuels can be used for freight and passenger rail.
• Provide a framework to fund intercity rail plans drawn up by individual states.
• Conduct a study comparing rail service in the United States to rail service abroad, identifying deficiencies in domestic service.

All good stuff. Exactly the type of bill that should be before Congress, unlike ridiculous gas tax holidays. On May 22 the bill was approved by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and is now before the House Rules Committee for consideration for floor time in the full chamber.

Locally the bill has solid support from Washington’s Eleanor Holmes Norton and Maryland’s Elijah Cummings, two of its 41 co-sponsors, and from Maryland’s Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader, who says passage of the bill before the August recess will be a priority. As far as BeyondDC is aware, other important locals have yet to weigh in.

Since Congress now has before it a tangible bill that could actually do some good, now would be an excellent time to write in and encourage support for such good behavior. If your Congressperson isn’t one of the three listed above (and hey, even if it is), BeyondDC encourages you to contact them and express support for an excellent bill.

Luckily, this is not valuable real estate…

And Bethany and Rehoboth, not to mention Assateague. Unless something changes, by the year 2100 they will pretty much all be gone, submerged into the Atlantic Ocean thanks to global warming, according to a study by the National Wildlife Federation.

Global warming isn’t just about habitat for polar bears or desertification of far-away grasslands; it will have real effects on humanity and on our region in particular. We’ll probably be able to protect some major up-river cities from rising sea levels with London-style barriers, but if the sea does rise then smaller cities, seafront cities and recreational retreats are going to be doomed.

And by the way, it doesn’t matter whether global warming is caused by humans or is naturally occurring. If we can’t mitigate it, say goodbye to summers on the shore.

Update: Reader Jason Sutphin points us to a story about Bethany, where serious weather-driven beach degradation is already going on despite expensive protection attempts. If one storm can do that, what will happen when warmer, more energetic storms are combined with permanently higher sea levels?

BeyondDC was taken offline by our hosting company for about 50 hours from Sunday evening until Tuesday night due to a problem with the home page blogging software. It should now be resolved. Apologies for any inconvenience.

BeyondDC is supposed to be a local blog. We’re here to focus specifically on urbanism in the DC area. So we feel guilty writing so many entries about national politics lately, but dammit, this stuff is important.

Here are two good reasons why Barack Obama is the closest we have to an “urban issues” candidate, in addition to the fact that he is the only one to oppose the gas tax holiday scam:

• He is the only candidate to say expanded rail service should be a bigger part of the national discussion. Conversely, McCain is one of Amtrak’s biggest enemies.
• All the candidates have proposed carbon cap-and-trade systems, but Obama’s is the best, especially compared to McCain’s. Obama wants a 90% reduction by 2050 rather than McCain’s 60%, and while Obama wants to make polluters buy carbon permits so the government can spend profits on environmental programs, McCain wants to subsidize polluters by giving credits away for free.

The more the candidates talk about the environment and transportation, the more clear it becomes that John McCain is anything but a moderate, and that Hillary Clinton, while better, is no Barack Obama.

BeyondDC won’t opine about this one for personal reasons, but take a look at the plan to remake Route 50 in Fairfax into an urban boulevard.

DC’s bike-sharing system will be identical to Barcelona’s (pictured).

BeyondDC is based in Ballston. When we want to go anywhere else on the Orange Line in Arlington we’re faced with a dilemma. It’s a little far to walk, but not always worth taking the Metro, especially on the weekend when trains are less frequent. There are surface buses we can hop, but they’re also less frequent on the weekend. For the most part we only use them if one happens to pass by while we’re walking. Driving would be ridiculous, even if we had a car.

The answer to our problem, of course, is a bicycle. Bikes may not guide land use or create TODs the way trains do, but once urbanity is in place they’re an essential piece of the transportation network – the best way by far to make medium-length trips.

With scores of healthy urban neighborhoods in need of connections, an expanding trail infrastructure, a fresh accolade as a top biking destination, and with America’s first bike-sharing programs primed to launch in Washington and Arlington, our region is on the cusp of a major revolution in biking-as-transportation.

To celebrate, and to provide an opportunity for first-timers to get in on the action, local governments and bike proponents around the region are hosting a score of Bike To Work Day events on Friday, May 16. If you register by May 9 you get access to more than the free breakfast and entertainment promised to all stoppers-by.

This is a good chance to send the message to political leaders that biking can be a serious mode of travel for large numbers of people. If you’re able, we encourage you to take part.

I’m a non-partisan and have been on the fence over all three candidates. This is the first time that one candidate has clearly distinguished themselves in a way that would sway my vote. It’s not just about a gas tax holiday. It’s about voting for someone [who] isn’t simply trying to buy votes by promising candy to a baby before dinner.
   – Richard Wilson, Santa Barbara, CA,
     in a comment at GasTaxScam.com.

A lot of candidates run on outsider “change the system” platforms, and most of the time they don’t really mean it. Barack Obama, however, in refusing to pander to emotion on the gas tax issue, is proving first hand that as president he will favor policies actually intended to produce results, rather than those that will maintain the status quo.

Make no mistake, the gas tax holiday favored by Hillary Clinton and John McCain is a bad deal for American voters. Most would only save $30-40 over the course of the entire summer, and according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association it would come at a cost of $9 Billion in lost revenues, and 300, 000 transportation-related jobs put at risk. Never mind that encouraging more driving is the last thing we should be doing right now, the gas tax holiday is an awful idea on its face. The economy is headed to recession and two of the three major candidates for president want to enact a policy that could eliminate 300, 000 jobs for no measurable gain? Are they kidding? In what universe is that good leadership?

If you think America deserves more than head-in-the-sand leadership, sign the petition at GasTaxScam.com and join the chorus of voters demanding real solutions to our country’s woes.

In 1986 CSX railroad stopped running trains on the Georgetown Branch right-of-way, a rail line between Georgetown, Bethesda and Silver Spring. In 1988 the State of Maryland bought the land specifically to be used for a transit line, and allowed locals to use it as a recreational trail in the interim period. Planning has been under way ever since, and as of 2008 funding is beginning to come together for what will be called the Purple Line.

Of course, it’s never that easy. The route bisects the Columbia Country Club, which though it operated successfully for 76 years with coal freight trains running on the Georgetown Branch, is heavily opposed to electric passenger trains using it. Likewise, the Town of Chevy Chase, a wealthy subdivision-sized municipality south of downtown Bethesda, opposes the route, ostensibly because the town wants to protect the recreational trail that has become very popular.

The Town and Country Club favor an alternate alignment called the Jones Bridge Road route. The alternate (shown in orange on the map below) would, according to opponents of the main alignment (in purple), save the Country Club and the recreational trail by following a route on surface streets further to the north. Never mind that the route isn’t as direct and that surface streets are slower for transit than a dedicated right-of-way, and never mind that the Town and Country Club are in favor of the route re-joining the trail once it gets a mile or so east of their boundaries.

BeyondDC was discussing the matter with some friends a few days ago when the subject of the Ride-On came up. Ride-On, Montgomery County’s bus provider, runs a route between Silver Spring and Friendship Heights that cuts along Leland Street, south of all the proposed Purple Line alignments. With that existing bus route in mind, we sketched out a third alignment (in teal below) following Leland Street and East-West Highway. It avoids the trail altogether. Then we stepped back, looked at what we’d done, and began to wonder why the Town and the Country Club haven’t thought of the same thing. If the point is to save the trail, then the Leland Street route we show does so much more effectively than the Jones Bridge Road route favored by the Town and Country Club.

For the record, BeyondDC still thinks the Georgetown Branch alignment is the best one for the Purple Line, as anyone primarily concerned with transit access will probably agree. But we can’t help but wonder what the Town and the Country Club think of our Leland Street alignment. They say they want to save the trail, and this route saves it better than the Jones Bridge Road route. Surely they would favor this alignment, right?

Or is it all just about their own back yards?

Three potential Purple Line alignments. Click to enlarge.