Yikes. I'm getting an anxiety attack just from looking at the Cycle map. Is that really a serious proposal?

I think a map of my bowl of spaghetti might be less complicated.

by andrew on May 19, 2011 8:31 am • link • report

The Arlington County Board approved the Westover Market application yesterday: http://news.arlingtonva.us/pr/ava/arlington-county-board-approves-203756.aspx

by Matt Glazewski on May 19, 2011 8:42 am • link • report

That Cycle map is the most needlessly complex thing I've seen in a long time. Are bicycles in London all affixed to rails? Must one bike according to a precise route and timetable?

by tom veil on May 19, 2011 9:30 am • link • report

@ Outer Beltway, from the link:“They are jumping to the conclusion that a major circumferential route on the outer edges of suburbia is the solution to our transportation needs,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “We don’t think that building a north-south route is justified in a region where the east-west traffic is three to 10 times higher.”

I am not sure if this is a poor picking of the Post of the Schwartz' statement, but I'd have preferred it if Schwartz had recognized the need for more transportation options in NoVa and had had some transit option (preferably metro) ready to suggest. I'll refrain from restating my wish-list of the massively extended orange, yellow and blue lines here, but those would do very well as an alternative for more roads.

The DC Medical Examiner's office has lost its accreditation because the chief is not board-certified.

Classic DC incompetence.

ANC1B (U Street, southern Columbia Heights) is forming a transportation committee and all area residents are invited to participate.

Hey look, an ANC that does invite all residents to show up! I wonder if that includes Howard students, and if so, what Howard does different than GW, GU and AU.

@ shots http://irishbreakfasttime.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/metro-opens-bottles/: I like the Rosslyn one.

by Jasper on May 19, 2011 9:33 am • link • report

Oh, and for Bike to work day, I need a good route from one of the Crystal City CaBi stations to the GW Parkway trail. Tips are welcome as I don't know Crystal City, but it's a closest to home I can get a bike.

by Jasper on May 19, 2011 9:35 am • link • report

@Jasper

Here you go.

by andrew on May 19, 2011 9:46 am • link • report

@Jasper: There's a short mixed-use trail that goes from just south of the Crystal City Water Park to the GW Parkway trail right outside the airport. It looks like the closest CaBi stations are at Bell St/18th and Crystal Dr/20th. There's also one at Bell St/20th.

(By the way, you can see the trail on Google Maps.)

by Tim on May 19, 2011 9:47 am • link • report

@ Jasper; just grab a bike at the Rosslyn station instead.

by charlie on May 19, 2011 10:03 am • link • report

The Outer Beltway rears it's ugly head again! Loudoun County has already had the eastern half paved over and turned into bland suburbia - with the accompanying gridlock. Now these road boosters want to continue the paving?
How about a heavy rail connection from Point of Rocks, to Haymarket to Fredericksburg? How about anything besides more flyovers and mindless sprawl? If they build an Outer Beltway it won't take long before it's just as traffic choked as our current Beltway (See Beijing and their 6! jammmed ring roads)

But the scummy politicians in the pockets of developers and road builders will be long gone, but their poor decisions will remain. Thanks Commonwealth Transportation Board - you know there are other ways to get around besides just cars right? If you give people choices besides SOV, they might just take them. We have tried the car centric approach for the last 50 years and it hasn't worked out so well; adding the ever increasing price of fuel and it will only get worse.

by Chris R on May 19, 2011 10:11 am • link • report

@Chris R-

I'm sure for no particular reason, that this time we won't have to worry about "induced demand". It will be totally different, unlike all our other highway-building adventures.

Besides, we wouldn't want hard-working, honest real Americans to have to subsidize students and liberals who want to force us into socialist communal-living mass-transit dystopias. Because four-acre lots are a natural outcome of the sacred free market, which we must not tarnish. Or something like that.

by EJ on May 19, 2011 10:31 am • link • report

@Jasper & others

In the letter I wrote to the CTB/Governor/VDOT Secretary (which theoretically Stewart Schwartz would have been able to view since I did it via CSG's petition page), I suggested that as an alternative, they designate Route 1 as a "Corridor of Statewide Significance". I know Delegate Surovell (who represents much of the Mt. Vernon area) agrees with me.

by Froggie on May 19, 2011 10:42 am • link • report

Jasper - The construction of the Silver Line to Reston and perhaps to the Dulles Airport/Loudoun County is the last major extension of Metrorail in Virginia for a long time. The costs of building and operating heavy rail are too high for the value of the benefits. And I regularly ride Metro to D.C., rather than drive.

Even Tysons Corner is not expected to have a modal split for transit that even matches Bethesda or the RB Corridor in Arlington. Also, since Dulles Rail is just a linear route (as opposed to the multiple routes in D.C.), Tysons will never obtain the modal split level obtained on K Street.

The lack of a third track and the limited capacity of the Potomac River tunnel are also negative factors with respect to advancing rail in NoVA. The costs of installing a third track and/or building a new tunnel are simply unaffordable.

Now watch the impact of the forthcoming cut-backs on defense spending, especially in the area of government contracting and see a major contraction in tax revenues.

Transit in NoVA would be in a much stronger position had either rail been built completely in the median of the Dulles Toll/Access Road (with a Tysons circulator system) or Bus Rapid Transit been built in the same location. Either system would have been much cheaper to build and would be operating already.

by tmtfairfax on May 19, 2011 10:55 am • link • report

@tmtfairfax

Tysons won't get the mode split of Bethesda or R-B because of its land use and its location, not because of Metro. Tysons isn't central enough, and it never will be. That doesn't mean it can't improve, however - and the landowners there know that the only way to grow is to do so on the back of transit and walkable infrastructure.

by Alex B. on May 19, 2011 11:00 am • link • report

The DC Medical Examiner's office has lost its accreditation because the chief is not board-certified.

But it was the D.C. Council that waived a D.C. requirement for the chief medical examiner to be board-certified when it first approved Pierre-Louis to fill out Jonathan Arden's term in 2003. [...] The council again waived the requirement for board certification in May 2007, when it approved Pierre-Louis for a six-year term.

Dear CM Mendelson, you oversee this deparment. Do you not think that when you hire a person for a position, you should exclude all people from the selection process if that person is not qualified to hold the position?

Thank you for ensuring there can be so little justice in DC. Yer doin a heck of a job Phil. Heck of a job.

by greent on May 19, 2011 11:14 am • link • report

http://novarapidtransit.org/

by mcs on May 19, 2011 11:18 am • link • report

Surely with the completion of the ICC, the outer beltway is pretty much a done deal? All that is required is to fill in the gap between Gaithersburg and Leesburg, which could be achieved by upgrading Maryland routes 28 and 112 and building the bridge to connect with Leesburg Pike / Virginai route 28 around 'Dulles Town Center'. Then northbound traffic on 66 could bypass Washington altogether without going on the existing beltway.

I guess you still have to connect 95 to 66 in Virginia somehow.

by renegade09 on May 19, 2011 11:22 am • link • report

@tmtfairfax Why not Route 1?

by Froggie on May 19, 2011 11:51 am • link • report

Alex B. No one is arguing that Tysons will not make use of rail and mixed use. Fairfax County's 527 TIA and VDOT's comments thereon both acknowledged these results. Moreover, most residents of Fairfax County would hope that, over time, results will even beat the projections.

But what seems outrageous is the consistent refusal of the smart growth movement to acknowledge the findings of the TIA that adding density in Tysons will produce a huge increase in auto and truck traffic that necessitates spending at least 1.5 billion in additional road improvements that, about the time they are completed, will reach the point of failure. I have not read nor heard anything from the smart growth movement that addresses these documents and their back-up or the factors specific to Tysons. Everyone with knowledge of Tysons (including Zook, Selden, Wheeler, Ladd or Rathbone) will tell you Tysons Corner is unlike any area that has been redeveloped as an urban area and that it may not develop like other areas.

But instead of addressing the specifics, we read and hear generalizations from other areas of the country without putting them into the context of Tysons. Instead of acknowledging the plans and the need to widen the DTR, we hear silliness like "we don't endorse that action." Suffice it to say, what will be, will be, without regard to what the smart growth movement says. The Tysons plan includes all of these road projects.

Tysons has grown because of auto traffic and will continue to grow because of auto traffic. There is no evidence to the contrary. No one from the smart growth movement addressed a single factor in the TIA and explained with Tysons-adjusted data or studies why that factor would or would not occur.

Under these circumstances, I believe it is wrong to talk about Tysons as if it will be an urban area operating mainly on transit and mixed use. Cars and trucks rule Tysons today and will do so tomorrow. And that will hurt the residents and businesses in the surrounding areas.

by tmtfairfax on May 19, 2011 11:56 am • link • report

As someone who has live in MD and VA for the past 35 years, I can tell you that new transportation links (highway or rail) are about as likely as new links between North and South Korea. Actually, I'm pretty sure that if people in MD or VA were starving to death, the other state would not send food aid. At least they do that in Korea.

by Falls Church on May 19, 2011 12:04 pm • link • report

Whether or not cars rule Tysons now or in the future is relevant, but the big picture for Tysons is growth. I think it's highly unlikely that the type of growth anticipated for Tysons could be possible without Metro and related infrastructure and planning upgrades. What failure means in this case will be different depending on what stakeholders you talk to.

As for an outer beltway, I'm completely against it, but I think the Fairfax County Parkway, or better yet, Rt. 234 could be parts of what would basically be an outer beltway.

by Vik on May 19, 2011 12:13 pm • link • report

Cars and trucks rule Tysons today and will do so tomorrow. And that will hurt the residents and businesses in the surrounding areas.

Hear! Hear!

[Hooray! The value of my inside-the-Beltway rowhouse just rose by 2.8%!]

by oboe on May 19, 2011 12:14 pm • link • report

Another example, the adopted plan does not contain enough on-site parks and open space that will be necessary to accommodate the growth in workers and resident. In fact, Fairfax County expects that many of these needs for recreation will be satisfied by facilities outside Tysons. But this means, of course, that workers and residents will need to drive to the outside resources. This contradicts the very notion of transit-oriented and walkable development. Yet, this does not seem to bother the smart growth movement. Facts just don't count. The smart growth movements' goal was to get an urban Tysons without regard to how it works or fails to work; without regard to the realities of infrastructure or without regard to the impact on the residents of northern Fairfax County.

Tysons should not growth much beyond 60-55 million square feet from today's 46 million square feet. That might produce a reasonably acceptable and workable urban area.

What would also help would be for more good jobs to become available outside Fairfax County, so that people living 50 or 60 miles from Tysons can work much closer to their homes. Substantial increases in commercial development in the Piedmont area of VA would go far to reduce commuting and traffic congestion.

by tmtfairfax on May 19, 2011 12:21 pm • link • report

actually it was a huge push by businesses and beltway bandit types that spurred the silver line construction- businesses were all for taxing themselves- because they understood the importance of having another way to get around since the auto mode was rapidly approaching sprawl-lock [ gridlock is for cities]
I am ,however, in agreement with this commentor- in that it was a HUGE mistake to not build a third or fourth rail on the silver line- and this should have been done all thru DC's metro system.The incredible ridership was just not anticipated in the 60's when metro was designed. DC's metro is certainly busy enough to warrant 3rd & 4th tracks , express lines, and redundancy in times of emergencies. It should also be open 24-7.

by w on May 19, 2011 1:08 pm • link • report

@ andrew, Tim: Thanks!
@ charlie: just grab a bike at the Rosslyn station instead.

I already do, and that's only a boring 6 min ride...

@ Froggie: I suggested that as an alternative, they designate Route 1 as a "Corridor of Statewide Significance"

+1

@ tmtfairfax: The costs of building and operating heavy rail are too high for the value of the benefits.

I wonder what you base that on, and why America can not afford something that virtually every other developed (and some developing) country can afford. Affordability is a choice.

Tysons will never obtain the modal split level obtained on K Street.

Newsflash: The DC metro area is larger, much larger than downtown DC. DC-shield perspective.

@ Alex B: Tysons isn't central enough, and it never will be.

Again: DC-shield perspective. Tysons is plenty central for northern Fairfax and eastern Loudoun county.

@ renegade09: I guess you still have to connect 95 to 66 in Virginia somehow.

VA-27 to I-395, done.

@ tmtfairfax:adding density in Tysons will produce a huge increase in auto and truck traffic that necessitates spending at least 1.5 billion in additional road improvements that,

Well, thanks to the HOT lanes, I-495 can't be widened anymore. Me thinks the only traffic growth in Tysons can only come from transit.

BTW: VDOT has done plenty of new asphalt building in the last decade. I-95 has been widened and completely rebuilt from Woodbridge to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (and beyond). The rest of the VA side of I-495 is getting the misguided HOT lanes. I-66 is getting widened by adding merging lanes. The Fairfax County Parkway has been completed, and is getting more interstate like exits at Fairlakes. VA-28 has been turned into an interstate north of I-66 (please, can we rename VA-28 to I-666?). Rt-50 has been widened pretty much out to Arcola.

I'm just saying, all that didn't come for free, and didn't help, since all those roads are still stuck every morning.

Fairfax County expects that many of these needs for recreation will be satisfied by facilities outside Tysons

Can I point out that there's a real National Park with challenging hikes within two miles of Tysons? That the Cross county trail goes pretty close by Tysons? That there are actually a few parks in and next to Tysons? You can blame Fairfax for creating a ton of sprawl, but one of the few things Fairfax has actually done well is their park management. There's a ton of 'm and most are connected by trails. In fact, Fairfax has the best parks of the nation. They won a prize for that a couple of months ago, beating NYC and Miami.

by Jasper on May 19, 2011 2:44 pm • link • report

Out of curiosity, what would you do to improve Route 1?

I don't think that anybody wouldn't argue that the road doesn't work particularly well in its current incarnation...but what can be done to fix it?

by andrew on May 19, 2011 3:23 pm • link • report

@ andrew: what would you do to improve Route 1?

Extend the yellow line via the Kings Highway, and then along US-1 by Ft Belvoir, Lorton to Woodbridge. [And then via Potomac Mills onto the Prince William Parkway to Manassas].

Rebuild all the commercial strip junk that exists now as a new Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. In short, entice the property owners to stick condos and apartments on top of their stores. Create walk and bike space. Especially the part north of Ft Belvoir is in abysmal shape, and on the verge of collapsing due to neglect. South of Ft Belvoir could also use some densification. The existing folks there would appreciate a faster connection to DC.

Unlike Tysons, this area can be developed, in stead of re-developed. It is one of the last places where Fairfax can really grow and be developed. If Fairfax does not develop this area well, they will loose a lot of tax money to Prince William.

by Jasper on May 19, 2011 3:35 pm • link • report

OK I have to mention one of my pet peeves with that specific exit mileage sign on the Beltway. How can you include the MD-187 shield for the Old Georgetown Road exit but not the MD-190 shield for the River Road exit? Stupid VDOT sign makers.

by Reza on May 19, 2011 3:45 pm • link • report

@ Reza: How can you include the MD-187 shield for the Old Georgetown Road exit but not the MD-190 shield for the River Road exit? Stupid VDOT sign makers.

And why is the GW Parkway sign not brown as all NPS signs should be?

It's because VDOT signage is a mess. Don't take it personal. Virginia has some of the worst road signage that I've seen in the US. It's inconsistent and confusing. Odd, because other states have figured out how to do it clearly.

OH and NC for instance are much easier to navigate than Virginia. Especially in NC that's not easy, since the state has a knack for having roads with multiple signage. There's a part of I-40 in Greensboro, where I-40 also functions as Business I-85, US-29, US-220 and US-70. Works fine. The crowded and cramped intersection of I-70 and I-71 in downtown Columbus is much easier to navigate than any major interchange in VA.

by Jasper on May 19, 2011 4:26 pm • link • report

@Jasper:

What's worse, that sign is technically missing the closest exit after GW Parkway (for Clara Barton Parkway in the direction of Glen Echo or Carderock).

But in terms of the worst states for signage, my current state of Oregon takes the cake. Signs with missing shields, misleading destinations for exits (using some amorphous area as opposed to the actual street the off-ramp connects with), poorly placed signage, minuscule signage, no signage at all, it's all here!

by Reza on May 19, 2011 9:40 pm • link • report

@ Reza: What's worse, that sign is technically missing the closest exit after GW Parkway (for Clara Barton Parkway in the direction of Glen Echo or Carderock).

Yeah, but why would VDOT worry about what happens in MD? Quite frankly, whichever bridge you go over across the Potomac, signage is crap. Going into DC, generally there is no or at most incomplete signage. Coming out of DC, you're bombarded with an overload beyond believe. Pay attention next time cross the Potomac on I-395 south. If you're not familiar with that situation, there's no way you're gonna get where you wanna go.

The thing I hate the most about VA signage is that they put "extra" information on the side of the road. Example: when you go up I-95 north into the Springfield Interchange/Melting Bowl, there's this tiny little sign on the right side of the road that says: "I-66, I-270, Exit 170B." Above the road there, Exit 170 has not been split yet in A & B, there's only Exit 170 I-395North, I-495North. Why can't they just slap the I-66 and I-270 stuff on the exit sign? In stead of "I-495North, Tysons Corner", it would say "I-495 North, TO I-66, TO I-270, Tysons Corner".
The weirdest thing is that they change the signage of I-95 from Washington to Baltimore at the interchange, while utterly ignoring Alexandria and Arlington. And don't get me started on that silly sign "NJ NY follow I-95North".

I've never been in OR, but I believe it can be worse.

/end rant

by Jasper on May 20, 2011 10:59 am • link • report