Traffic

I'm so proud of you!

by David Alpert   •   August 20, 2009 3:59 pm

I wouldn't have believed it once upon a time, but the comment sections of DC area blogs have started to talk about transportation and urban planning issues in a much more thoughtful and knowledgeable way. Thanks to the skills you've honed and knowledge you've picked up here and on the many other excellent urbanism-related blogs in the area, when something pops up on a blog like DCist that oversimplifies a transportation issue, you quickly set things straight with extremely intelligent comments.

This morning, DCist Editor Sommer Mathis included the Arlington HOT lane lawsuit in her morning roundup. As happens not infrequently in blogs' link summaries (including ours here), snark and pith beat out thoughtful policy analysis, and the four-sentence summary ended up framing the issue in terms of the natural but incorrect reaction many have to freeway traffic: it's crowded, so we need more lanes.

Poor Arlington. Looks like it's come down with a bad case of the NIMBYs! The County filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday in an effort to stall plans for high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on interstates 95 and 395, citing air pollution concerns. Gotta wonder if that means Arlington is happy with the status quo on Shirley Highway, which is generally a parking lot. The state of Virginia has actually already delayed installing these lanes, however, due to the weakened bond market, so looks like Arlington won't have to worry about trying out variable congestion pricing for a while anyway.

My point isn't to hassle Sommer, but to call out the amazing comments that followed. Right out of the gate RJ pointed out some of the ways HOT lanes are actually a terrible idea. Soon after was this totally-on-message piece from monkeyrotica. A year ago, he was one of DCists funniest and most prolific commenters; he has now added "great at refuting bad freeway projects" to the repertoire:

HOT won't accomplish anything but create more induced demand and generate cash for the private companies setting up the HOT tracking system. You'll have the same problems they're going to have once they finish widening 270: a mountain of debt, more traffic, and drivers will shave a total of 1-2 minutes off their commute times. I've got no love for the People's Republic of Arlington or NIMBYs, but in this case they're right to sue.

Commenter arglebargle added an entertaining twist, too: "I think they should expand 395 until it merges with 66... making a giant 395 + 66 = 461. This will solve all of Virginia's traffic problems for sure! (Until the 300 lanes on the new 461 need to merge into the same few 3-lane bridges going into DC.)" Tom, hryan4740, CSG's Stewart Schwartz, and others rounded out an excellent refutation of the HOT lane folly.

Now if only the Post's comment sections could be one percent as intelligent.