The Nationals regularly take the train during their season. I think I saw recently that either the Capitals or Wizards were riding it too,

by WFY on Feb 20, 2012 10:18 am • link • report

There is more to the Tysons Road article than that contained in the Post's article. Fairfax County has prepared a spreadsheet going to 2051, the end of the planning period desired by the Tysons landowners. The spreadsheet estimates the total cost of road improvements needed for Tysons and non-Dulles Rail transit, including 3% annual inflation. The cost estimate is $5.46 billion, which does not include the costs of bond interest or other financing costs.
Obviously, things will change over time. There will be boom times that require an acceleration of transportation improvements and bad times that permit the construction to slow. But this is a good planning estimate. The County should be commended for looking as far forward on transportation as the landowners are looking for their redevelopment.

by tmtfairfax on Feb 20, 2012 10:29 am • link • report

It is obviously news in Texas that a TX professional sports team would take NEC on Amtrak to travel from Philly to NYC. But the teams in DC, Baltimore, Philly, NYC, and to a lesser extent Boston, frequently take Amtrak to travel to games in the other cities on the NEC. Amtrak has major capacity limits between NYC and Boston in they have a hard limit in the number of trains they can run through eastern CT imposed by the US Coast Guard (due to the 5 drawbridges on the Shore Line route), so they can not readily add special trains from Boston to NYC. But they can add or lease entire cars on scheduled trains, so some of the teams going between NYC and Boston probably do that.

Interesting that one of the Dallas Maverick players has never been on a train in his life.

by AlanF on Feb 20, 2012 11:07 am • link • report

What type of development are you expecting around National Harbor? It has been residential for decades. There isn't that much room left at National Harbor.

by selxic on Feb 20, 2012 11:09 am • link • report

Even if the PG casino is an enclave development, it will bring much needed construction and service jobs to PG; not to mention, tax revenue. Also, an enclave isn't such a bad design if you're trying to shield the community from the negative effects of a gambling center.

by Falls Church on Feb 20, 2012 11:12 am • link • report

While I think a casino would probably be successful at National Harbor, I do think it would signal a failure by Prince George's County.

National Harbor was supposed to be a new destination on the Potomac not only for conventioneers but for the public at large. They tried to cultivate a very family friendly image with skating, the cartoon ice sculptures, public art and performances. And now? Disney drops plans to build a new resort hotel, and we'll be getting a casino instead. There likely go the families. Instead of more higher-end retailers, we're likely going to get an outlet mall.

Like I said, there's nothing necessarily wrong with any of those developments: they all provide jobs and tax revenue and will likely be successful, but do not necessarily reflect what the county started out to do. I really feel bad for the people who bought homes down at National Harbor believing that they were on the leading edge of what would become an upscale urban development only to be located next to a casino and an outlet mall.

by Adam L on Feb 20, 2012 11:19 am • link • report

Many of the homes around National Harbor have been around for more than 40 years. I doubt anyone bought there because of plans for National Harbor. Also, casinos have always been something National Harbor has been considered. I don't understand why a casino is being looked down upon so much here. It isn't a second rate development. Perhaps it should be called a lifestyle center so more people here would appreciate it for what it is.

by selxic on Feb 20, 2012 12:06 pm • link • report

Train travel, of course, was the way professional sports teams traveled until the end of World War II. Major League Baseball had no teams west of St Louis, and the NFL had nothing west of Green Bay.

Stories about players and trains (and bad behavior) are legend. Many involve Babe Ruth, but NHL stories involving competing hockey teams taking the same train are among the most amazing. Fights that began in the arena sometimes continued on the train.

In 1946, the NFL and rival AAFC established franchises in LA and SF, respectively, and teams began to fly out to and from the coast. But it was 1958 - and jet travel - before major league baseball moved west of St Louis, with the Dodgers and Giants moving to LA and SF. The Dodgers actually owned their own plane.

Baseball teams have always used Amtrak for some NEC travel, when schedules permit. But since games can go into extra innings or be delayed by rain, teams need extreme flexibility. There have been occasions when the bus that was supposed to take the team to the train station or airport has had to take the team from Philly to NY or NY to Baltimore. And when the Nats play the Orioles, the visiting team always goes by bus.

by Mike S. on Feb 20, 2012 1:07 pm • link • report

Capitals took the train to New York has part of Dads/Mentors weekend. They like to give the dads and mentors a different experience on these trips. I guess they got tired of taking the plane to Florida and golfing between games. FWIW, the players and their dads really seemed to enjoy taking the train.

Usually, however, the Capitals fly everywhere. (several years ago, Bruce Boudreau's first game as Caps coach, actually, the team took the bus to Philly. Very unusual)

by birdie on Feb 20, 2012 1:43 pm • link • report

It's never been demonstrated that "Broken Windows" accounted for NYC's decline in crime. OTOH, it did help explain the localization of sexually transmitted infections in New Orleans (after accounting for the usual predictors), but others have not had replicated this.

by Rich on Feb 20, 2012 8:39 pm • link • report

Would like to reiterate Rich's point. New York's drop in crime was correlated with the Broken Windows policy, but also a decline in the use of crack cocaine and several other social changes that could account for the drop in the rate instead of or along with the famous policy.

by Elle on Feb 21, 2012 8:30 am • link • report

they seem to be including large scale widening of Gallows in the Tysons plan - that will likely be accompanied by, and necessitated by, increased devopment in the Mosaic area, outside the Tysons district. Thats either incremental development, or, if shifted from elsewhere in the county, means less auto traffic (and less need for new roads) elsewhere. The Tysons estimates look to me as if they are quite conservative about incremental road investment necessitated by the changes in Tysons. Thats not necessarily bad planning - better to set the money aside than not - and not necessarilly bad as a negotiating strategy with developers - but I would not necessarily support each and every road improvement included in that package - they will still need to be evaluated on their merits, including their impacts on the modal splits in and out of Tysons.

by AWalkerInTheCity on Feb 21, 2012 10:20 pm • link • report