What really annoys me is the inefficiency MetroAccess. I was just leaving the bus when I saw two MetroAccess vehicles at one house. Our hard earned money at work.

by Josh on Sep 16, 2008 6:19 pm • link • report

Don't more garages in Bethesda help encourage people who live in the suburbs take Metro into the District, rather than driving?

by 10lbs on Sep 16, 2008 6:24 pm • link • report

Josh, two destinations for two different people? I don't know much about Metroaccess, except that originally, it was supposed to be the plan for all disabled (according to "The Great Society Subway", there weren't supposed to be elevators, all wheelchair riders were going to be shuttled everywhere.

by Michael P on Sep 16, 2008 10:33 pm • link • report

If the following lines were extended to the areas (listed below), what stations could you see?

- Germantown (Red) and Glenmont (Red)

- Laurel/Konterra (Green) and Andrews Air Force Base/Clinton (Green)

- Bowie (Orange), Crofton (Orange) and Manassas (Orange)

- Pointer Ridge (Blue), Burke (Blue) and Dale City (Blue)

Now let's say that light rail lines were to be constructed to some areas (listed below), where would you put the light rail line and what stations could you see?

- Frederick

- Olney

- Columbia

- Annapolis

- La Plata

- National Harbor

- Fort Belvoir

- Woodbridge

- Leesburg

- Columbia Pike light rail towards South Riding

- Purple Line from Bethesda towards Tysons Corner, Annandale, Springfield, Alexandria, National Harbor, Temple Hills, Forestville, Largo, New Carrollton

Yes, I'm sure that some of these ideas probably have been expressed by others before. Street car lines will come up later....

by Zac on Sep 16, 2008 10:34 pm • link • report

This is actually not a reply to Zac's post, but is inspired by it. I feel like the stretch of Rhode Island Avenue north of the metro station could really be revitalized by a streetcar - it seems like an area that only needs a little better access and a slightly higher volume of traffic to really be great (just slightly higher: the quiet of the area is a big part of its charm). Mount Rainier got its start as a "streetcar suburb", why not bring back the streetcar? I was surprised not to have seen Mount Rainier on the "Fantasy Maps" that were the rage about a year ago.

It would be terrific if it could connect the RI Ave Metro to the Riverdale MARC (especially if MARC ever gets around to making serious service improvements to that line).

To get really extravagant, it could connect with the Purple Line at College Park, and make some recreational stops along Lake Artemesia, and east to Greenbelt Park - enabling weekend camping trips by streetcar!

by Nick on Sep 16, 2008 11:17 pm • link • report

Zac,

I'm actually working on a post that details my dream metro... so I'm in the mood to tackle this one. These are not meant to be considered financially feasible at this time.

Red- I'd only extend it to downtown Gaithersburg and let the Corridor Cities Transitway do the Rest. on the Glenmont end, I'd extend it to Aspen hill, Rossmoor-Norbeck, and Olney.

Green- I'd keep the Metro running along the Camden line to support TOD on Rt. 1. Beltsville, Muirkirk, Laurel Lakes, Laurel Commons, and Downtown Laurel. Maybe a station or two in HoCo. in the South, I'd send it to Clinton, possibly Waldorf.

Orange- to Centerville in VA, and along 50 to Bowie in Maryland.

Blue- I'd send it out to Manassas via Clifton and Burke (with a few other stops in there). In MD, I'd send it to Upper Marlboro.

What about the Yellow? I'd send that all the way down to Dale City/Woodbridge. Then instead of going to Ft Totten, up under Georgia Av to Silver Spring, and then do the shortcut to Rockville that was originally planned.

Silver- Send that one along the Penn Line all the way to BWI. Connect the two airports and build an extra track to allow express service between them.

- Frederick - Corridor Cities Transitway from Kentlands via Shady Grove, definitely with not-yet-proposed stations in Clarksburg, Hyattstown, Urbana, and Monocacy.

- Olney - Red Line

- Columbia - Light rail from Silver Spring

- Annapolis - build a light rail from downtown to Bowie to connect with the Orange. Also, build a MARC line.

- La Plata - Light rail connecting the ends of the blue and green lines, and then continuing to LaPlata

- National Harbor - Send the Purple Line all the way around the Beltway, that'll be a natural stop

- Fort Belvoir - Yellow Line

- Woodbridge - See above

- Leesburg - Silver Line extension?

- Columbia Pike light rail towards South Riding

- Purple Line from Bethesda towards Tysons Corner, Annandale, Springfield, Alexandria, National Harbor, Temple Hills, Forestville, Largo, New Carrollton - you nailed it, except I'd skip Springfield and go down Duke Street/Little River Tpk

throw a couple east-west light rails across DC. Perhaps a New Hampshire Av line in MD. Cover the Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Florida Av corridors. something from Union Station to College Park hitting Ivy City, Mount Rainier, Hyattsville, and Riverdale. So glad to see more people are thinking big for WMATA.

Coming soon, Imaginedc fans.

by Dave Murphy on Sep 17, 2008 1:59 am • link • report

Zac:

Now you've done it... I'll have to finish my own transit future map now.

Re: the CCT - Implementing it at a local level (up to Germantown or Clarksburg) to address the massive development north of Shady Grove is one thing. Frederick is another. Frederick, Kensington, Silver Spring, and the Green Line Extension is probably better served by upgrading MARC's Camden line to Metro-like service levels (while still retaining local freight, but not through-freight).

A link with info: http://www.angelfire.com/md3/i-270/I_270_Transportation_Proposal.html

The National Harbor development needs one thing to be integrated into the DC area's transit system: A quick, easy route to downtown Alexandria and then the King Street Station Metro facilities. I mentioned Aerobus in a previous post - that's what I'd like to see here. A ~$100-$200 million, 4-mile, 3-station line to do that in 5 minutes, every 10 minutes, is peanuts compared to the value it would add to the $4 billion megadevelopment. Right now they're running water-taxis every hour for $7/ticket.

I'd like to bring something else up... The Yellow Line North. Split it from the Green Line track after Shaw/Howard and run it north under US 29 to Silver Spring. Normal Metro service up 29 to White Oak and a single-tracked extension (30 minute headways) constructed on the cheap in the route 29 median up to a yard at Colombia or even Ellicot City seems like it could be practical. $200 million a mile is not doable here. Silver Line to Leesburg and Red Line to AspenHill/Rossmore/Olney are marginally more practical - I'd like to see ridership estimates for those routes if possible.

by Squalish on Sep 17, 2008 3:52 am • link • report

Why is there no J St. in DC?

by PJ on Sep 17, 2008 9:32 am • link • report

PJ: Put those exact words in Google. "J" and "I" kinda looked the same in the type faces at the time.

by Michael P on Sep 17, 2008 10:03 am • link • report

A look inside the dynamics of planning...

http://wwwsouthcapitolstreet.blogspot.com/2008/09/appearances-of-power-ruminations.html

http://wwwsouthcapitolstreet.blogspot.com/2008/09/committee-of-100-opposed-extending.html

by Douglas Willinger on Sep 17, 2008 10:55 am • link • report

RE: J Street

Thre's also a fun little urban legend (though I'm pretty sure it's not true at all) that Pierre L'Enfant was in love with a woman who turned him down for John Jay. Hence, when he designed the city, no J Street out of spite.

RE: Squalish

Nowhere in the DC area does MARC support the kind of transit oriented development that is vastly needed on Rt. 1. Though an upgrade would be great, especially if it involved another set of tracks for MARC only, it wouldn't be a seemless connection to the city's transportation network for Beltsville and Laurel. I don't understand why people are willing to drag Metro all the way up to Columbia and Frederick, but don't see the need to bring it to Laurel, an important halfway between DC and Baltimore.

by Dave Murphy on Sep 17, 2008 1:06 pm • link • report

Why no J St.

The mundane explanation is that J Street was likely omitted simply because the letters I and J were often indistinguishable from each other (especially when handwritten), and in 18th century English they were still largely interchangeable. (The 1740 "New General English Dictionary" published in London had a single section for I and J, and the standard identification Thomas Jefferson used on his personal possessions was "T.I.") Having both an "I" and a "J" street would have been redundant at best and confusing at worst, so "J" ended up as the odd man out.

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/jstreet.asp

by RJ on Sep 17, 2008 1:48 pm • link • report