Photo by lunaed on Flickr.

Narrow here, wide there

In the latest round of updates to regional transportation plans, DC wants to narrow some roads like East and South Capitol Streets, while Virginia plans to widen many roads, particularly near Tysons. (Examiner)  

Cycle track’s death greatly exaggerated

DC also removes the 9th Street cycle track from the regional plan, which governs how federal funds are spent, but it’s not dead. In fact, it could now be easier to build without burdensome federal rules. (WashCycle, BeyondDC)  

Sustainable politics

Some proposals in Mayor Gray’s Sustainable DC plan, like pay-as-you-throw or a bottle deposit, are listed as “long term”, which basically means it’s too politically difficult to achieve right now. (Post)  

The future of Fairfax is smart growth

Fairfax chairman Sharon Bulova said in her State of the County address that walkable, mixed use, transit-oriented redevelopment is Fairfax County’s future, using examples like Tysons, Springfield, and Merrifield.  (Post)  

DASH gets bike racks

Alexandria’s DASH Bus has installed bike racks on its entire fleet of buses. A Virginia Department of Transportation grant covered the cost of retrofitting 53 buses in DASH’s fleet that were purchased before 2011. (AlexandriaNews)  

Sequester in the park

Sequestration would mean some big cuts at local national parks like the Mall and Rock Creek (which include smaller DC parks like Dupont Circle, Meridian Hill, Franklin Square, and many more. (DCist)  

No longer in the zone?

Zoning started as a way to separate housing and industrial uses, but with more uses mixing and many exceptions to zoning regulations, has the word now become anachronistic to how we actually plan cities? (Post)  

And…

DC’s invited to bid for the Olympics and Mayor Gray is considering it. (DCist, WTOP) … Seattle considers building gondolas. (Seattle Times) … New car sales hit a record low in Europe thanks to a slow economy and good public transit. (NYT)