Posts by Cavan Wilk

The only way to create an effective, affordable rapid bus network is to use existing roadway lanes more efficiently by reserving them for bus-only traffic. Unfortunately, the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) refuses to modify any existing roadways that would help buses move faster than cars.

Building a successful system in Montgomery County will present unique challenges. In DC, though progress has been slow, DDOT is working with WMATA to study how to best fit bus priority into its roadways. MCDOT needs to do the same.

If MCDOT started dedicating bus lanes on priority corridors now, engineers would be able to understand the challenges and issues that arise when redesigning one of Montgomery County's roadways. They would gain knowledge and experience that would speed up future phases of BRT, saving time and money.

Outside the Beltway, the BRT task force recommends putting high-speed bus lanes in the center of roadways. This will require limiting left turns and other changes in highway operations. Dedicated lanes on priority corridors now will let MCDOT try out some of the treatments that could ultimately become part of those BRT lines.

The path to making existing streets into a welcoming environment for transit riders and pedestrians will undoubtedly involve a learning curve. The sooner that MCDOT can begin to study and learn from real world experience, the better and more cost-effective the Montgomery County BRT system will be.

Actually, it can, easily. And it can afford $12 million for the Metropolitan Branch Trail, which Leggett also cut from the current capital budget. All the county has to do is defer some of the $359 million in new highways in the 6-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP). That $359 million is all for new capacity, over and above the necessary cost of maintaining the county's existing roads and bridges.

The projects include widening Goshen Road, which costs $129 million, but the justification in the CIP suggests it's not needed until 2025. Building Montrose Parkway East, for $56 million, will further despoil Rock Creek Park, while the completed western portion has already created a "Berlin Wall" that will hamper a future walkable, mixed-use neighborhood growing north of White Flint.

Widening Snouffer School Road and Snouffer School Road North, 2 projects costing $45 million, would meet "demands of existing and future land uses" in an area which "is experiencing growth with plans for future residential and commercial development."

Why does the County Executive claim that it doesn't have enough money for the Bethesda Metro, a necessary step for the Purple Line in the part of the county that generates the most tax revenue, and Wheaton, a prime spot for new mixed-use growth and an already-thriving community right on top of another Metro station, but can spend money on new roads in car-dependent areas which may grow in the future?

These new road projects would increase traffic congestion through induced demand, offer no economic development, and destroy irreplaceable Chesapeake Bay watersheds. Montgomery County has already agreed, through long public debates, to make the Purple Line, the Metropolitan Branch Trail, and growth in Wheaton top priorities. But Leggett's budget does not reflect this.

This is an unfortunate pattern with this County Executive. The Leggett administration consistently cries poverty when it comes to smart growth-oriented projects like these, or making Rockville Pike a boulevard in White Flint. However, it seems that no sprawl-oriented road project is too expensive to fund.

Whether it's putting up roadblocks to BRT, pushing harmful skybridges and underpasses, or a bizarre focus on resurrecting bad "zombie road" proposals from the 1960s, the County Executive's decisions do not embody Montgomery County's and Maryland's stated smart growth policies.

Fortunately, it appears the County Council does not share the County Executive's misplaced priorities. A council committee has since voted to restore funding for the Bethesda Metro entrance, and the full council will consider it soon. The council should also restore funding for the Metropolitan Branch Trail.

Despite claims to the contrary, these worthy projects need not compete with each other. The council can simply choose the least valuable of the plan's many expensive road projects and use the money to ensure Wheaton, Metro riders at Bethesda, the future Purple Line, and a valuable bicycle connection from Silver Spring to DC get the attention they deserve. Our county, state and region cannot afford more delay.

A friend's recent housing search offers an interesting example of the phenomenon.

Up until a few months ago my friend lived in a brand new, and quite expensive, building in White Flint. When they announced a rent increase, she decided to look elsewhere. I suggested downtown Silver Spring, thinking that the increased supply of housing units there in recent years would result in lower rents. After doing some research, my friend determined that rents in Silver Spring were comparable to what she was seeing in White Flint.

New buildings, it turns out, are expensive even if there are lots of them. Of course, Silver Spring's desirability in general has also greatly increased recent years, which is why there are so many new buildings there in the first place.

There are more people who are interested in paying to live in Silver Spring than there were a decade ago. While there are now more residential units than before, there is simply far more demand than the new buildings can accommodate to keep rents stable.

Just up the Red Line in Wheaton the situation is a little different. Wheaton is still a few years away from revitalization on the scale of Silver Spring. It is a much less desirable location. Therefore, one would suppose that rents there would be less expensive.

Because Wheaton is a less desirable location, it has fewer new buildings than Silver Spring. But it does have a few. If one compares the rents for a new building in Wheaton to those of a similar new building in Silver Spring, the listed rents are comparably expensive.

Despite the location differences, they are both new buildings. And new buildings have high rents.

Older buildings compete with newer buildings by offering lower rents.

In the specific case of downtown Silver Spring, the older buildings can charge almost as much as the new buildings because the area is so desirable that there is a supply shortage. If there were enough supply to meet the demand, the older buildings would be the first to become more affordable.

Buildings in the same location compete with each other for tenants. New buildings offer amenities, and old buildings offer affordability. Previously new buildings eventually become comparatively old, and therefore eventually have to compete more strongly on price.

The key lesson is that we must produce enough new urban buildings today to meet tomorrow's affordable housing needs. Our current affordability problems are due in no small part to a failure in the late 20th Century to produce enough urban buildings that we would today consider "old". We must not repeat that mistake.

The Laurel Macy's has managed to remain open for years despite much of its host mall being shuttered. That store would likely have closed years ago if it wasn't making money, especially in the wake of the Great Recession.

Similarly, if it had not been profitable the White Flint Bloomingdale's would have closed in 2007 when another location of the luxury retailer opened a mere 3 Metro stations away.

Within the Favored Quarter, the most economically competitive and healthy part of our region, only the largest and most dynamic enclosed malls are continuing to thrive. The rest are slowly dying.

In Maryland, Montgomery Mall is the most vibrant, while in Virginia the Tysons cluster reigns supreme.

When the White Flint redevelopment plan was approved in 2010, it provided the owners of White Flint Mall the opportunity to earn a healthier profit by giving the market more of what it wants: walkable urbanism.

Elsewhere in the region the malls are doing as bad or worse. Most have either closed or are in the process of being converted to walkable town centers.

Arlington has had success turning the area around its two enclosed malls into mixed-use towns, first at Ballston and now at Pentagon City, where the process is still under way.

In Fairfax, Springfield Mall is slated for redevelopment, and Fair Oaks Mall is actively considering a mixed-use future.

In Prince George's County, the area around the Mall at Prince George's (formerly Prince George's Plaza) has been undergoing a process similar to Pentagon City. At Bowie Town Center, County officials are looking at adding more entertainment and housing options.

Meanwhile, urban shopping areas that I mentioned three years ago have increased in prominence:

In the District of Columbia, there are four shopping districts that support clusters of national retail chains that are usually mall-based: Downtown (Old Downtown clustered around Metro Center), Connecticut Avenue between Farragut Square and Dupont Circle, Friendship Heights, and Georgetown. Columbia Heights is emerging and has a different mix of retailers.

Urban-format suburban shopping districts also continue to thrive and grow.

Silver Spring's retail is more vibrant than ever. The space vacated by Borders was quickly filled by Smart Toys. Bethesda and Clarendon are continually adding to their mixture of chains and smaller upscale retailers. Wheaton is a work in progress.

Even outside the Beltway, urbanism is catching on. Rockville Town Square and Gaithersburg's Washingtonian Center are growing, and National Harbor is setting the standard for Prince George's County. Two decades ago, all those developments likely would have been enclosed malls.

While purely car-dependent malls aren't going to go completely extinct, they are becoming far more rare. In the future, it is likely the only enclosed malls that remain will be the largest super-regional "winners" inside the Favored Quarter. Meanwhile, no new malls are planned.

As the 21st Century continues, both living and dead mall sites will be either be completely redeveloped or will evolve into mixed-use walkable urban places. Retailers will continue clustering at transit-oriented, walkable urban locations, both downtown and at new suburban "uptowns."

The site in question would require no new roads or infrastructure to be specially built. That part of campus is tucked away from the academic uses and is currently used for parking and varsity/club athletics. It already has the infrastructure in place for large events. DCU could market using the Green Line, much like the Nats Stadium does, although some fans will want to drive if they're coming from far away.

The site is about a 20 minute walk from the Green Line but will be less than 10 minutes from the future Purple Line stations at East Campus and Campus Center. (The University currently runs free shuttles to and from the Metro all day every day.) It is also right next to the Paint Branch Trail bike path.

There also are some new apartments with ground-floor retail on Route 1 behind the stadium site, which are on the way from the Metro. Those new buildings have restaurants and pubs in them that are certain to enjoy greater patronage from future soccer fans on the way to and from the game.

Attendance for UMD soccer is currently over the capacity of Ludwig Field, its current facility. They now draw up to 8,000 spectators. After multiple expansions to temporary seating structures, Ludwig's capacity is about 7,000. During my time as an undergraduate, I heard about how University of Maryland Athletics was dreaming of having a true soccer facility so they could host games and make revenue from prestigious events such as the ACC championship and the NCAA Final Four. However, those prestigious events require that their host facilities have an enclosed press box and locker rooms. Unfortunately, Ludwig Field has neither.

Currently, University of Maryland Athletics is running a deficit. Therefore, they can't fund new facilities in the Master Plan. University of Maryland Athletics also wants new revenues to fund their operations. Meanwhile, DC United has been offering to fund the construction of a new stadium for over 10 years. They have sought a public-private partnership that involves the local or state government issuing low-interest municipal bonds that the team would be in charge of paying.

The lower municipal interest rate versus the higher private interest rate is the difference between tens or hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the bond. The Maryland Stadium Authority was set up to mange such projects; as result, they bring in revenue to the government and are funded through fees from events at the facility rather than through taxpayer money. (It was also founded in response to Baltimore's heartbreak over losing the Colts in the 1980's because of a situation that was very similar to United's.)

Under such a public-private partnership between DC United and UMD, the University would get a new facility that's on its Campus Master Plan at no cost to their budget. They would get new revenue streams by hosting ACC and NCAA events, along with revenue from DC United events, according to the terms of embracing construction on the University of Maryland campus. Finally, they would have a beautiful new stadium to better attract and accommodate more fans for their own soccer teams than their present facility can hold.

The more events a stadium hosts, the more revenue it brings in for all stakeholders. In addition to more revenue from hosting college sporting events, UMD and DCU would make revenue per the terms of their agreement for 60 additional events a year. As I wrote back in January:

Between its Major League Soccer regular season games, U.S. Open Cup, CONCACAF (North American) Championships, and friendlies, DC United holds approximately 30 games during the season. Other events would want to use the facility too, such as the U.S. National Men's and Women's soccer teams, concerts, college sports, other pro sports, etc. 60 events a year is a reasonable estimate. The schedule for the Los Angeles Galaxy's soccer stadium, the Home Depot Center, illustrates the diversity of events held.

DC United's competitor, the Los Angeles Galaxy has a similar existing arrangement with Cal State-Dominguez Hills as the Home Depot Center is built on the campus. The Home Depot Center represents how a medium-sized professional sports venue built on a college campus can be beneficial for all stakeholders.

The solution to two separate problems often rests with the two parties working together. DC United has been looking to fund building a 20,000 seat soccer stadium for over a decade. The University of Maryland has wanted a new soccer stadium for almost as long, as expressed in the Campus Master Plan, and they currently lack the funds to build it themselves even though their own soccer team has outgrown its present facility.

DC United is in the eleventh hour of getting out of a bad stadium arrangement that threatens their very existence. The land and infrastructure at UMD is already in place. The Maryland Stadium Authority brings professional stadium project management to the table. Both parties have exactly what the other wants and a 20,000 seat soccer stadium will bring in revenue for all at no taxpayer expense. It's also a smart growth project, located close to existing Metro infrastructure, the future Purple Line (boosting ridership projections and making the project even more competitive for Federal funding), existing parking, and existing road infrastructure that already handle accommodate large sporting events.

Bonus: there'd be no argument over the stadium color scheme.

Disclosure: I'm a member of the Barra Brava, an iconic independent DC United supporters' group. I am also a University of Maryland alum and a member of the Alumni Association.

In reality, the existence of another through-road would increase the pressure to open up the county's Agricultural Reserve for more car-dependent sprawl.

M-83 would become congested like every other new road due to induced demand while being very expensive to maintain. More money will be taken out of the county's general funds that could go to transit, police, schools, etc. We'll be paying for environmental destruction yet again.

Just like the zombie outer beltway in Virginia, M-83's route was selected years before planners began taking environmental issues into consideration. Over the years, local residents have killed plans for this road multiple times.

The Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA have denied federal funding in the past because many of the alternatives would pave over protected, undeveloped parklands that contain tributaries to Great Seneca Creek.

Because each alternative includes widening existing sections of surface roadway to highway standards, local residents would lose private property. The Coalition for Transit Alternatives to Mid-County Highway Extended (TAME) has arisen to oppose the misguided plans to build M-83. TAME comprises mid-county and upcounty environmental groups, religious organizations, and civic associations.

While presenting to the August 9 Action Committee for Transit meeting, a representative of TAME described how some people attending the public meetings on M-83 originally angled to have someone else's yard taken for the road widenings. The representative noted that once the different stakeholders began talking with each other, they came to a consensus that no one's yard should be taken for a road that is expensive, environmentally destructive, and unnecessary. Stakeholders also agree that M-83 should be eliminated from the county's Master Plan and CIP.

Currently the M-83 project is funded exclusively with county money. Why is there money for M-83 when the county executive's office refuses to add boulevardizing Rockville Pike in White Flint to the CIP? Likewise with adding a second entrance to the White Flint Metro Station or funding the Corridor Cities Transitway?

This current mentality, where the county happily pays for any road project yet requires outside funding sources for transit projects, is selling our future short and must stop.

Just like TAME's vision, I implore Montgomery County to defund the cost-ineffective and environmentally destructive M-83 project in favor of projects like White Flint's urban retrofit, the Corridor Cities Transitway, and possibly the county's BRT vision.

From the article:

"If you live—as I do—in a rural area, you don't share those hopes and dreams of mass transit as you have in the urban areas," Pipkin said Monday during a panel discussion on Maryland's economy and infrastructure.

He said the state's rural counties have dire transportation needs that aren't being met by the dwindling pot of state transportation dollars allocated to road and bridge repair.

The solution to having too little transportation money isn't to cut off infrastructure investment in the parts of the state that contribute the most tax revenue. The wealthy urban parts of Maryland never complain about subsidizing rural road projects. The rural parts can't afford to do it on their own. Since we are one state, it has never been an issue whether or not to contribute to the infrastructure and standard of living of the less affluent counties.

Then, why does Pipkin want to punish the parts of the state that have benefitted his constituents for so many decades? Demonizing the wealthy parts of the state who aren't represented by members of his political party is political red meat to a large group of his constituents.

I grew up in Cecil County and my parents live in Senator Pipkin's district. Many people from the Upper Eastern Shore think of Baltimore and Washington as far away places that are alien. His legislation would message well to people who view mass transit as an unfamiliar big-city amenity.

However, it's Pipkin's job to represent his district's monetary interests, not to appeal to their misinformed views about the urban parts of Maryland. His constituents will benefit from the tax revenue generated by the economic development from the Purple and Red Lines.

It is also logically inconsistent that Pipkin is targeting light rail projects but not the ICC. Because of the sticker shock from the ICC, the state is considering raising tolls to cross the Baltimore Harbor, the Susquehanna River, and the Chesapeake Bay. Why isn't Pipkin decrying the huge chunk of the Maryland transportation budget that is going to constructing the ICC?

Transportation funding in Maryland should not be a parochial argument about roads vs. rails. It's about building infrastructure that is appropriate to the communities it serves as they envision themselves in the future. Senator Pipkin's constituents deserve far-sighted representation that will generate economic development in all of Maryland, benefiting his constituents through increased tax revenue to fund more state services.

As a Wheaton resident, I enjoy seeing good transit-proximate walkable urban development in the area. In Leesborough, the Wheaton Metro Station is a 10-minute walk south on Georgia Avenue. The Y family of Metrobuses stops at the gate of the development, too.

In contrast to most housing developments in recent decades, the Leesborough development in Wheaton has a good sense of place with human-scaled complete streets. I was very pleasantly surprised when I took a walk through the nearly complete project.

While each townhouse has a two-car garage, it addresses car storage in an otherwise sensible, urban format. Rather than having wide streets with long driveways, the townhouses and condominiums in Leesborough address the street, which has parallel parking, while the garages around back open up to an alley, much like older row house neighborhoods in DC.

The rear placement of garages eliminates curb cuts from the primary streetscape. If you're walking from your house to the Metro on the sidewalk, you don't have to worry about getting hit by someone pulling out of their driveway.

The streets were built by the developer but will become public. If you visit a resident of the development by car, you won't have to worry about being towed like at most existing car-oriented apartment/condo buildings. It's like visiting someone in a traditional neighborhood.

The Leesborough development also boasts a small urban park. I live near this emerging community and I could walk to it and enjoy this common space. It's not gated or set back behind acres of parking.

Leesborough is not perfect, obviously. It is a single-use housing development. There is no neighborhood-serving retail like a convenience store or a dry cleaner. Like most new construction, it is also expensive. I wouldn't call it "affordable" in any way.

The affordable housing problem is not something that we can correct by waving a magic wand. It exists because there are more real estate customers who want transit accessible housing in walkable, urban-style developments than there are existing units.

Meanwhile, the collapse of resale values in many far-flung, car-dependent developments implies that there is more of this type of housing than the market demands. It took many decades to reach our current imbalance and the only way we can address it is to build more developments like Leesborough in closer, transit accessible neighborhoods.

No surface parking

Parking garages are extremely expensive. Neither Buzzard Point nor the Florida Market have the space for acres of RFK-style surface parking. Without any government support in the form of road building or eminent domain, it wouldn't make fiscal sense for DC United's ownership to spend lots of its own money on parking structures when both sites are proximate to Metro stations.

It took government intervention back in the late 1950's to subsidize building all the parking lots at RFK Stadium. Other un-urban stadiums like Detroit's Ford Field took government support in the form of zoning and road building. Neither DC United site would require altering the existing street grid and both sites appear to be selected because they wouldn't require road costs to the District.

Integration with the street grid

Because the District has no interest in offering subsidies in the form of rebuilding streets, the new soccer stadium would have to be designed around existing infrastructure. The celebrated human-scale L'Enfant Plan would be largely undisturbed.

Proximate transit access

The Florida Market site is a five minute walk from the NY Avenue Metro station on the Red Line. The Buzzard Point site is a 10-15 minute walk from the Waterfront and Navy Yard stations on the Green Line.

Pedestrian-friendly connection to transit

South Capitol Street is too wide in places with too-fast traffic. However, it is safe to cross at M St. because the faster traffic is in a trench. The walk from the Waterfront station down Delaware Ave. SW and 2nd St. SW is very safe. They are small neighborhood streets with 25 mph speed limits. The Florida Market site is along Florida Avenue NE. It's a little wide but the there is enough activity to slow down the traffic. It's not a suburban arterial or a partially grade-separated street.

Frequency of events

Between its Major League Soccer regular season games, U.S. Open Cup, CONCACAF (North American) Championships, and friendlies, DC United holds approximately 30 games during the season. Other events would want to use the facility too, such as the U.S. National Men's and Women's soccer teams, concerts, college sports, other pro sports, etc. 60 events a year is a reasonable estimate. The schedule for the Los Angeles Galaxy's soccer stadium, the Home Depot Center illustrates the diversity of events held.

Vibrant surrounding urban area

The Florida Market site is within close proximity to the H Street, NE nightlife area. The coming streetcar on H Street will better connect the stadium with existing popular restaurants and bars.

On the other hand, Buzzard Point is a largely forgotten corner of the city. It's been cut off by I-395 since the 1960's. Because of its remote location, it would be politically easier to build there because of the lack of potential anti-neighbors. This location represents an opportunity to bring attention and real estate demand to a forgotten corner of the city.

The Buzzard Point site has many things in common with the area around the Navy Yard Metro before the construction of Nationals Park in Near Southeast. While the area surrounding the baseball stadium hasn't magically become Dupont Circle, it is no longer forgotten. Real estate demand near the Navy Yard Metro is now far greater than before it hosted the ballpark.

The main thing holding it back from progressing towards its potential is the tight global financial environment. While I'm not a baseball fan and think the District got a bad deal on the financing of Nationals Park, I think it's unfair to say that the redevelopment of the stadium's surrounding environs "failed." The redevelopment process is going to take years and will ultimately be for the better.

Looking back into history, some of the best pre-WWII stadiums in the United States also displayed excellent urbanism. They added a sense of place to their surroundings and were considered jewels in their cities. Those great stadiums were built under similar circumstances to a new DC United stadium; they received little government support. They had to use existing infrastructure and squeeze their footprint into existing city blocks. In both the pre-war stadiums and a new DC United stadium, necessity is the mother of invention.

Disclosure: I'm a member of Barra Brava an iconic independent DC United supporters' group.

Back in October, Delegate Waldstreicher cc'd me in an email conversation he was having with Sarah Libby, the friend of one of the tragically deceased young men. She wrote,

I was trying to figure out a way to turn this terrible tragedy into something positive and I was thinking that perhaps there could be some sort of legislation regarding blinking lights around metro stops and large intersections. Adam and Rory were being responsible drinkers in that they took the metro home from the bar rather than drive ... after a certain time, the lights at that intersection [Rockville Pike and Marinelli Road] go from Green and red to blinking yellow and there is no walk sign.

Sarah struck a chord with my life experience. I use the Metro for play as well as work and have walked home after many nights out. The thought of being tragically killed after responsibly using the Metro for nightlife is sobering for anyone. When I asserted that Rockville Pike in its current pedestrian-unfriendly form would be an impediment to realizing the vision of the White Flint Sector Plan, I did so from the both the heart and from personal experience as a pedestrian.

After speaking to staff and the Maryland SHA and MCDOT, Del. Waldstreicher updated Sarah on November 9,

MCDOT and SHA are conducting a station-by-station review to focus their safety efforts on those Metro stops with significant post-midnight pedestrian traffic. For example, I assume there will likely be light changes near stations like Wheaton, Glenmont, and Bethesda (in fact, this has already happened at the White Flint station). Meanwhile, less dense stations like Medical Center and Grosvenor will likely have no light changes. I think this common-sense approach is exactly what we need from both a procedural (less bureaucracy) and substantive point of view.

Delegate Waldstreicher made another fair point,

Hard-red lights at 2 a.m. could possibly encourage non-compliance by drivers (there's no-one around so they'll just go). It may have the same effect on some pedestrians. Even though I believe we are in the right and the net effect will be positive, I don't want to pretend that cycled lights are a silver bullet.

As frustrating as the substance of this point may be, I think it's a valid concern. A traffic light could lull a pedestrian into a false sense of security when a motorist is just going to run them over anyway while ignoring a red light. Sarah subsequently replied:

I understand the concern of non-compliance with the lights during the later hours causing more danger and might I suggest red light cameras in those intersections? ... If nothing else I do believe that the 24 red/green lights will slow people down. According to some witnesses, this young man who killed Adam and Rory was going between 70 and 100 mph.

Being from the area, he like most of us probably knows that all of the lights around here blink after midnight and while yellow means yield, realistically that does not happen. I think that had he known that there is an actual non-blinking light ahead he would have started to slow down, especially if he knew he could get a red light ticket."

The replies from the SHA, MCDOT, and the county police were all very prompt, professional, and responsive. They deserve credit for listening and trying to make things better in the short term. None of the current staff of MCDOT or the SHA is responsible for decisions in the 1960's that turned Rockville Pike into the monster that it is today.

This tragic event shows how quickly people who are otherwise uninterested in transportation policy quickly become experts when it touches their life. It also underscores how much our infrastructure and urban form shape our everyday life. In another email with Sarah, I compared my experiences that inspired me to become an advocate to taking the Red Pill in The Matrix, a metaphor she agreed with. Sarah and the families of Adam and Rory have taken the most painful kind of Red Pill.

Very often, a painful life experience can inspire someone to make a difference in the world. The silver lining of the tragic deaths of Adam and Rory is that the county and state are now closely examining pedestrian transportation policy around Red Line Metro stations. The actions will move Montgomery County towards a more balanced transportation system for all.