Are you ready for some Metro?

Development

Are you ready for some Metro?

by Dave Murphy • November 3, 2008 1:24 pm

Please welcome Dave Murphy, GGW's newest contributor, who also writes the Imagine, DC blog. Dave lives in Laurel and will be bringing us insight on urbanism from the regions northeast of DC (and anywhere else he has something to say).

Photo by tape on Flickr.

Monday Night Football, the NFL's major prime time network (and basic cable) broadcast has come to FedEx Field once again. Even more exciting than the normal hyperbole of a MNF game is the fact that the 6-2 Redskins are playing the 5-2 Pittsburgh Steelers, a game that lots of people are actually going to care about for a change. Redskins Nation is buzzing.

If you commute on the eastern half of the Beltway, however, your afternoon drive will probably be much slower, as FedEx Field opens the lots four hours before the 9 pm kickoff and tailgaters will likely be jamming exits 15, 16, and 17 during the evening rush, as happens for every weeknight home game at FedEx Field. But Metro is pulling their weight, just like they did for the last Monday Night game at FedEx, the 2006 season opener. The system will be staying open until 1 a.m., with additional personnel at Morgan Boulevard and Largo stations.

Considering that FedEx Field opened in 1997 but Morgan Boulevard and Largo stations did not open until 2004, Metro use during mega-events at the stadium does not make headlines like Nationals Park did when it opened atop a Green Line station this spring. People noticed that Nationals games were not choking the Metro system, especially when Nationals games were getting high attendance at the beginning of the season (interest naturally waned by the middle of their dismal 59-102 season).

Of course, FedEx Field has over twice the capacity of Nationals Park. Then again, FedEx Field is suburban, fed by highways, and surrounded by acres of surface parking. Where Navy Yard station is a block from Nats Park, FedEx Field lies almost a mile from Morgan Boulevard. Even if one were to envision a future Purple Line station at FedEx Field, it wouldn't be much closer, and would likely augment rather than replace Morgan Boulevard as the primary stop for the venue. In any event, an awful lot of people would have to give up driving before Metro started to have major issues on game day, even when games impacted the weekday rush hour. For now, the Blue Line is a viable alternative to driving. I'll take walking a four fifths of a mile for free from the Metro over walking two fifths of a mile from a $30 parking space. And it never hurts to take a car off the Beltway, while you're at it.

10 comments

Tags: Maryland, stadiums, traffic, WMATA

GGW debates: Urban football stadiums in DC (Dec 20, 2010)
How to create a successful urban stadium (Feb 18, 2009)
Compare mode share across Metro stations (Aug 3, 2009)
Thundersnow traffic illustrates east-west divide (Jan 27, 2011)
Metro parking prices should reflect crowding (May 13, 2010)

Dave Murphy is a Geographic Analyst for the Department of Defense and a US Army veteran. He is also a part time bouncer. He was born in Foggy Bottom and is a lifelong resident of the DC area. He currently resides in the Eckington neighborhood of Northeast.

Comments
Add a comment »

For a long time I thought FedEx Field was virtually inaccessible by Metro except for people willing to hike a long way. But I was talked into taking Metro to the game for the first game this season. I found it to be much easier than believed. While the station is a good distance from the stadium, it is closer than many parking lots. Unless you have the best parking money can buy, everyone has to walk a long distance because of the expansive lots. It is no greater of a walk than many of the paid lots the team runs.

It is not a profound statement to say that the reason we here such little promotion of Metro as an option for the Redskins games is that Dan Snyder doesn't want you taking the Metro to a game. $20 a car per game makes up a lot of their revenue. Few people realize they are going to walk even farther from those pay-to-park lots than they would from Morgan Boulevard.

(Also, architecturally speaking, I think Morgan Boulevard is one of the nicer stations on the system)

by Andrew C. on Nov 3, 2008 2:32 pm • link • report

I'm surprised the DC area pedicab operators haven't gotten wise and started offering rides between the metro and the stadium. Easy money.

by David C on Nov 3, 2008 3:25 pm • link • report

"I'm surprised the DC area pedicab operators haven't gotten wise and started offering rides between the metro and the stadium. Easy money."

Trust me Snyder has an iron curtain around the stadium, no one is allowed in without paying him his tax. Sure you could have pedicab system in place, but be damn sure Snyder gets his large cut.

by RJ on Nov 3, 2008 3:47 pm • link • report

Does Dan Snyder still levy a pedestrian fee? A few years ago you had to pay $5 if you arrived at the stadium on foot (and therefore didn't pay to ride a metrobus or pay to park in his lot).

by a.k. on Nov 3, 2008 3:48 pm • link • report

To bad there isnt some company that operates a shuttle I know several people in there eighties that went to every game who dont drive and they use to catch the train to addison rd and then the shuttle ever since they stopped that they havent gone to a game because they cant walk a mile due to there age. Some company needs to fill the void left by metro not providing shuttles anymore.

by kk on Nov 3, 2008 4:44 pm • link • report

kk, I agree. It wouldn't cost much to provide shuttles... Does PG County have their own transit system? If so, maybe they could utilize unused buses.

oh yeah... GO SKINS!

by SG on Nov 3, 2008 5:00 pm • link • report

What benefits has Fedex Field brought Maryland? $10M in tax revenue per year? That's it?

I'm kind of curious how a new stadium inside DC could turn out, best-case scenario.

The Washington Convention Center was criticized on construction in 1998 for having no room for expansion - it could fill up by 2012. The racing circuit on the northern track of the RFK parking lot made an agreement to lease rights for 10 years of racing events in 2002. DC United is planning on moving out in 2010 pending political & EIS maneauvers, but that`s starting to look optimistic.

So 2012-2016 is the timespan we're looking at, when the RFK site's future is decided.

What I'm wondering is whether one can design a stadium and mixed-use development on the RFK site (a radical change for the area) that isn't an absurd anachronism from an urbanist perspective - a megabuilding designed to harbor at least 16 events of 160k people per year ("Largest stadium in the world", designed to assure World Cup & Olympics bids & finally reach the end of the waiting list for season tickets), while having other productive uses, being part of a larger urban neighborhood, and fitting into the space in a less profligate manner.

by Squalish on Nov 3, 2008 5:55 pm • link • report

@SG

They do have a system actually the bus and thats the name of it; the bus goes basically nowhere your better off walking or driving than catching the bus; most of the routes follow existing wmata routes in the county but with slight diversions or start and end in the same place as metro routes but with a different route.

The service and coverage are past horrible if your relying on the bus your better off walking and im serious it just doesnt go anywhere you want or when you want. Its also funny how even the buses that circle around the stadium have no bus stops there the closest stops are at Brightseat/Sheriff rd and the other is at the apartments on Hill Oaks Rd and neither is close to the damn stadium its like maybe 1/4 less than walk from the station

The Bus operates Monday through Friday, no service is provided on Saturdays, Sundays, or major holidays (New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day)

by kk on Nov 3, 2008 6:13 pm • link • report

Skins will never win in FedEx or whatever it's called. Biggest mistake was moving the team out of their base, DC, and into the soulless suburbs. More steelers fans last night than skins, it seemed. JKC made a mistake by selling out to some place in Maryland. Just can't win in a no name place in a corporate stadium. Won't happen. Sorry.

by Fbase on Nov 4, 2008 8:47 am • link • report

I am one of the "Old duffers" and a former stroke survivor. Usually I know tailgaters who let me go with them, but I coul not make the walk from the metro station. Getting to the gates from Orange Parking is to tough for me.Now I see that Dan Snyder has changed the paeking codes around so that he can raise money (poor guy, probaboy needs to shore up his failing amusement parks.) It is too bad that fans cant get to toher psrkd and see how they respect the needs of fans. I am waiting for the skins announcement that they are installing pay toilets one day. What has Maryland gotten for its largesse to the Redskins? It is no secret that Snyder is hated, probably not as much as the Giant's management to are getting their grief for the new stadium. See them at the bamkcrupcy sale.

by regusted on Aug 14, 2009 3:59 pm • link • report