Posts by Yonah Freemark — Guest Contributor
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Walkability is about the full walking experience, not just access to resources
Many measures of walkability boil it down to access to key destinations, but new Urban research expands the definition to include multiple measures of the walking experience. Keep reading…
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People mover vs rail to Dulles saves more than money
A proposal to use a people mover instead of Metro for the final 1.5 miles of transit to Dulles Airport drew criticism here and from airports authority board members. But this could actually save traveling time as well as money, and is an effective practice in many other cities. On Tuesday, Robert Brown, a member of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), suggested… Keep reading…
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Are private operations on the Northeast Corridor the means to an end, or just an end?
House Republicans have proposed “privatizing” Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, keeping the tracks publicly owned but contracting out operations to a private operator. But without more federal funds to improve the corridor, this won’t accomplish much. In order to take advantage of the roadways effectively, bus drivers — not to mention car… Keep reading…
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Did building Metro bring growth? It depends where
This week, Metro celebrates the 35th anniversary of the opening of its first line, whose construction first began in late 1969. How effective has the system been in re-orienting development patterns? In many ways, Metro has proven to be an essential element of the region’s mobility system. Ridership, depending on who is counting and how they are doing it, ranges between 700,000… Keep reading…
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Expanding downtown: Infrastructure matters
Washington, DC is a lucky city. Its downtown has been filled up with new construction over the past few decades to such an extent that it has virtually no space for new office buildings. Some, like Matt Yglesias, have suggested that one way to resolve this problem would be to increase densities by ridding the city of its height limit, which in essence makes it impossible to build structures… Keep reading…