WMATA comes to its senses and commits to transit-oriented development in the vicinity of Metro stations rather than just unloading parcels for cash. Meanwhile, for a week now I've been obsessed with these two (one, two) bits of Capital Region transit porn.
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Good for Metro
29 Feb 2008 10:33 am
Comments (16)
wow. why don't they just connect the metro system to Pittsburgh.
Wow, those are amazing maps, too bad it won't happen. If we can't get an extension to Dulles, I don't see how that huge expansion is going to happen, though it is needed, Metro does leave large swaths of territory not serviced easily.
There's a site like that for the MBTA. This vision is drool-worthy- add the urban ring (yellow line) and extend all the other lines out to route 128 in both directions. That would give Boston a system about equivalent to what DC has now.
Link one isn't too far from reality-- link two commits the 'only connect' fallacy.
The first map looks interesting and somewhat realistic. The Second map is incredible and I might sell my car if it happened, but it's too insane to ever happen.
One of the reason why I'm skeptical of the Dulles extension is the inadequacy of existing tracks on the already congested Orange Line. Have any of you ridden on it (from VA) into DC during the morning (and back during the evening) rush hours? They're already maxxing out on the trains using the tracks and you can't get a seat if you don't get on in Vienna (the VA terminus). How the hell are they supposed to dump the Dulles passengers off at West Falls Church and add to the current crush. The Washington Metro is a nice system designed for medium capacity. It's not the NY subway with express tracks and the ability to switch to alternate tracks if you have an accident or congestion ahead. The whole idea of adding more traffic to an already overloaded system is sheer lunacy.
>>The second map is good step in the direction of illustrating to the world that Baltimore is really just an emerging outer suburb of DC
Ah, like Philly is the sixth boro?
Seconding Pan, the Orange line is already like an skyscraper with a single elevator. I'm sorry if they never planned for it, but they are going to need express trains on the Orange and Red lines if they want to extend the tracks any further.
The first map looks interesting and somewhat realistic. The Second map is incredible and I might sell my car if it happened, but it's too insane to ever happen.
I don't know about that. The first map involves building more heavy rail lines in the city, which is never going to happen. Map two involves connecting existing transit (VRE, MARC) to Metro and building the two things politicians seemingly will pay for: infill stations and light rail.
While the idea of having subway/mass transit service to everywhere sounds wonderful, one has to wonder if there is enough traffic genrated once one gets out of a dense core to justify that level of service all day long. The DC system was built primarily to relieve commuter congestion - but in non-peak periods should all those outlieing areas get the same level of service as downtown and the commercial centers such as Tysons? And if not, if they plan on staggering the end points of the lines the way the red line currently does with 1/2 the trains ending at Shady Grove and half the trains only going as far as Grovesvenor - does it justify the sink cost of building the system out that far?
Metro and Metro-type service would be nice to have, but I think the far-flung areas would best be served by some sort of expanded commuter rail service (limited to in the mornings/out in the evenings) that operates on a different concept than Metro.
FYI, the 2nd map has a newer version as well, with more in Baltimore, Northern Virginia, and elsewhere: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=644
And Max: Rail transit to Dulles isn't going to happen under this administration, with the current people in charge of the DOT and the FTA. With luck, that will change in 2009. But a big grassroots campaign will be necessary to persuade Congress to really support transit financially. We should be encouraging cities to build transit with matching funds, the way we used to do for highways (and still do, to a somewhat lesser degree, but still more than transit).
- David of Greater Greater Washington
Amazingly, despite putting together a Metro/Rural/Intercity rail map that would make Paris green with envy, the fuckers STILL don't put a line up the Highway 29 corridor to Burtonsville, where I live.
Map 2 looks quite a bit like Metro with MARC and VRE superimposed on it, in the bright green, with completed walkway tunnels between the Farraguts and Metro Center/Chinatown. Not sure what the purple stuff is supposed to be - major bus routes, maybe? So basically, this already exists, unless I'm missing something.
LaFollette - a little good news. All the bridges over US29 are designed to allow light rail to go underneath in the median. (This was done in response to a request almost ten years ago from the Action Committee for Transit, of which I am now president.)
The big problem is how to connect from White Oak to the rest of the system. And, of course, where the money will come from.
I live in San Francisco, the second most densly populated major city in the U.S. I only wish that we could have what riders in Washington, Boston, and especially New York take for granted: a REAL subway system. BART is a commuter train, taking you all over the East Bay, Oh boy! The Muni has a few street car lines that run under Market street and two other tunnels that run under a couple of big hills. (Those under the hills were built around World War I but somehow we lost our ambition since.)
I know everyone complains about the transportation in their own city, but really, be happy you have it better than most.
Comments closed March 14, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
The second map is good step in the direction of illustrating to the world that Baltimore is really just an emerging outer suburb of DC
Posted by Christopher Colaninno | February 29, 2008 10:53 AM