Just to be clear on the policy points, Senator Biden is one of Amtrak’s biggest supporters, while Senator McCain wants to shut it down.

Given Amtrak’s recent performance, we dare McCain to go after it.

Anybody see anything wrong with this photo?

Lulzy picture via Fail Blog.

Won’t somebody think of the children!

Consider these two policy positions enacted by the Town of Chevy Chase:

1. Speed limits on the street in front of the town’s elementary school were recently lowered to 15 miles per hour to make the street more safe for students.
2. The town wants to modify the proposed Purple line from a light rail train running in a fenced-off, dedicated right-of-way to a rapid bus running on the surface of Jones Bridge Road, a street some distance north of the town’s boundaries on which a Montgomery County elementary school fronts, and across which children attending school walk daily.

So thanks, Chevy Chase, for making your values clear. Your children should be safe at any cost; ours should be subjected to unnecessarily dangerous conditions so you can have prettier recreation facilities. You’ve got yours; screw the rest of us.

The disconnect is absolutely, inexcusably shameful, and an affront to basic human decency. How dare the town expect the rest of us to consider the safety of our children a lower priority than the aesthetics of the town’s recreation facilities.

One of the proposed Tysons Metro stations (top) and a Dulles subway railcar (bottom).

Although the full federal funding grant of $900 million isn’t quite a done deal, the major bumps seem behind us and the Silver line remains on track. The FTA last week authorized construction to begin in Tysons Corner. According to the Post:

Some preliminary work, including relocation of utility lines, has been underway since January. The pace of the work will pick up considerably after Labor Day, officials said, with more than eight construction sites likely to be in progress along Route 7 between the Dulles Toll Road and International Drive.

As a result, spot closures of the Route 7 service road will continue. And single-lane closures will begin next week along Route 7 and Gosnell Road, project spokeswoman Marcia McAllister said. Motorists have encountered lane closures on the ramps from the toll road to Route 7. That and other nighttime detours in the area will continue, she said.

In addition, the project office has instructed Metro, which will operate the new Silver Line, to begin the process of procuring rail cars

Overhead Wire is upset a subway isn’t still on the table, but Ryan Avent gets it right when he says that under the current transit-hostile FTA leadership, a subway simply isn’t possible and that building what we can now is the correct decision. A subway would obviously be better, but elevated rail isn’t all that bad (it works in Silver Spring and Chicago, after all), and at this point in the game starting over (and hoping for a more transit-friendly administration) would be too great a cost in both money and time for too marginal an improvement. It is perhaps unfortunate, but it’s time to move on.

Tysons Corner approvals aside, there was other rail-related good news in the Dulles corridor last week. On Monday the 18th officials at Dulles Airport unveiled the new interterminal subway, which will replace most of the aging mobile lounges. The railcars are in place and undergoing testing while construction finishes up. The subway, which is similar to those in place at airports in Atlanta and Denver, will be open to the public in about a year. Though we have some sentimental feelings towards the lounges, a subway will be far more convenient and efficient, and as the Post points out, will prove to the feds that the Airports Authority (also a player in the Silver line) *can* build a rail line.

Rosslyn’s future skyline, with 1812 N. Moore at right center, between the twin towers of Central Place. Rendering courtesy Rosslyn Renaissance.

The new tallest skyscraper in the Washington region is ready to begin construction.

In Rosslyn, demolition of existing buildings has completed at 1812 North Moore Street, which will soon be home to a 390-foot skyscraper. The tower will become the tallest in the area save the Washington Monument, and will feature a pyramid-capped design sure to become a local landmark.

It’s the latest news in the ongoing revitalization of Rosslyn, which also includes the already-under-construction curve-capped Central Place twin towers, the taller of which will reach 384-feet (also higher than all existing DC-area skyscrapers), and the 313-foot Turnberry Tower.

Together these towers will have a profound impact on central Rosslyn. What has been a dreary 1970s-era office ghetto will be transformed into a more vital and attractive neighborhood, and the Rosslyn skyline as seen from the National Mall will become much more visually stunning.

Three recent stories not to miss:

• SmartBike DC is jumping out to a fast start; after just one week of operation there are already almost 4 registered users per bike.
• Bus agencies around the country, including WMATA, are trying to posh up their image to attract more choice riders.
• WMATA is testing dangling straps from overhead handles so shorter passengers will be able to hold on to something. The plan is to install hanging straps on at least 100 railcars by the end of this year.

The script that operates the BeyondDC Newsfeed is down. We’re working with support from our hosting company and the blog software company to try and resolve the problem. Apologies.

Does it mean BeyondDC is cool if we’ve been satirized?

Real live DC SmartBikes.

SmartBike DC, America’s first modern bike-sharing system, is officially up, running and available. 60 bikes at 10 stations around downtown Washington opened on Wednesday, with another 60 bikes imminent and more future expansion promised. Users pay a $40 annual fee, receive a SmarTrip-like card in the mail, and can then use any SmartBike in the system to their heart’s content. Unlike ZipCar and other car-sharing services, bikes do not have to be returned to their original parking station – any station in the system is fine.

Arlington hopes to follow the District with its own bike-sharing service to launch in Spring 2009. Arlington’s system, as yet unnamed, will function using the call-a-bike style, in which users use a cell phone to get the combination to unlock bikes, many of which will be secured to orange ZipCar poles.

BeyondDC visited the Foggy Bottom SmartBike station today to check it out. We saw one actual user and a whole lot of interested people poking around. We took a few pictures (see the thumbnail gallery), and have a couple of thoughts for the powers that be:

1. Good choice on the bikes. These are clearly commuter bikes, not racers. Fenders and chain guards will keep clothes dirt-free, the step-through frame will be good for riders of any size, and the basket in front will make hauling a package easy. Thumbs up.

2. You need maps, lots and lots of maps. At the very least they need to be at SmartBike stations themselves, but people ought be able to find them in every Metro station in the District. Users need to know where they can find/return bikes, and potential users need to know how easy the system is to use. Plenty of people are interested, but unless everyone in the city memorizes the SmartBike webpage the necessary information is too hard to come by.

Anyway, we’re big fans of bike-sharing and look forward to the day when Washington’s system is as wide-spread as the one in Paris. It can’t happen soon enough.

Apologies for the lack of fresh content lately. For reasons unrelated to BeyondDC it has been a busy week. Look for new posts in the next day or two.