Category: Transportation
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The Art of Streetscaping
Naples, Fla., a city of some 20,000 inhabitants, is one of the wealthiest communities in the United States. Reputedly, the jurisdiction has the second highest proportion of millionaires. Modest lots within walking distance of the beach sell for a couple million dollars, and tear-downs are common. The landscaping in residential neighborhoods is as manicured as…
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RVA Affirms Bike Lanes, Opens City to Scooters
The sidewalk scooter fad now coming to Richmond was in full swing in San Antonio during a visit over the holidays, providing a good preview of Things to Come. Downtown Richmond is not now and probably never will be as packed as downtown San Antonio during the Alamo Bowl, and it was clear from their…
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I-66 Rush-Hour Travel Speeds Up 12%
Did the implementation of tolls on Interstate 66 inside the Beltway hurt or harm rush-hour travel times? I addressed that issue yesterday based on data from a Washington Post article. Now I supplement that post with data direct from Deputy Secretary Transportation Nick Donohue. The tolls have been widely criticized by commuters, many of whom recoil…
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Transportation Revenue Focus of Concern Again
In the middle of a booming economy, with many state revenue sources surging, flat transportation revenues were the focus of warnings Monday in presentations by Virginia Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne and Secretary of Transportation Shannon Valentine. “I think we are heading for a cliff,” Layne told the House Appropriations Committee. “For the first time…
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No Quick Fix for I-66
When the Interstate 66 Express Lanes opened a year ago, they triggered a maelstrom of controversy as Northern Virginia commuters encountered new driving patterns. Motorists were particularly irate at peak rush-hour tolls rising as high as $47.50 to drive just a few miles on I-66 inside the Beltway. Virginia transportation officials said, never fear, people…
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NoVa Pushes Back on D.C. Fare Decriminalization
When last we visited the matter of turn-stile jumping and other ways of cheating the Washington Metro mass transit system, Washington City Council had voted to decriminalize the nonpayment of fares. It wasn’t hard to predict that Virginians would not look kindly upon the decision. Now comes the inevitable reaction.
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Washington City Council Puts Virginia Taxpayers, Metro Riders at Risk
Well, Washington City Council has gone and done it — decriminalized Metro fare evasion. America now will be treated to an interesting social experiment. If it doesn’t go well, Virginia taxpayers will wind up picking up part of the tab. The financially strapped Metro, which operates the mass transit bus and rail system for the…
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Amazon Deal Highlights Virginia’s Competitive Advantage Over Maryland
Many Virginians have qualms about the $550 million in job-creation incentives plus more than $1 billion in promised transportation and higher-ed investments it took to recruit a $2.5 billion Amazon facility to Northern Virginia. But things could be worse. Maryland offered an $8.5 billion package — and didn’t land the deal. The Washington Post is asking…
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Updates: Deadly Road Diet? Rider T1 Case
The Powerful Law of Unintended Consequences A raging forest fire is hard to imagine in Northside Richmond, but there could be other emergencies where the city and its residents would come to regret the loss of vehicle travel lanes on Brook Road. A recent deadly fire in California we all watched on television may be…
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How Walkable Urbanism and the Talent Pipeline Won the Amazon Deal
More information is coming out about the wheeling and dealing behind Virginia’s incentive package that coaxed Amazon, Inc., to locate a $2.5 billion campus in Northern Virginia. It turns out that many of the key pieces in Virginia’s incentive package were initiatives that had been in the works for years. Virginia is putting resources into…
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Decriminalizing Metro Fare Jumping
Wow. Just as a white knight in the form of Amazon, Inc., rides in to help salvage the floundering Washington Metro mass transit system, Washington, D.C., City Council pulls a bone-headed move that could undo everything. Amazon HQ2 will plop down a massive activity center near the Crystal City and Potomac Yard Metro stations, catalyze the development…
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Dissecting Virginia’s Amazon Deal
Virginia has committed to investing a sum unprecedented for an economic development deal in the Commonwealth — roughly $2.5 billion in state and local dollars to bring Amazon, Inc. to Northern Virginia. In a presentation to the House Appropriations Committee yesterday, Stephen Moret, CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) provided a detailed account…
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Scooter Dudes
My wife and I visited downtown Washington, D.C., over the weekend and marveled at the sight of so many people using scooters. Nearly all of them were young men. When young men are involved, it should come as no surprise that some traveled at what struck me as excessive rates of speed. Scooters are too…
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Bacon Bits: Rails, Roads, Hurricanes and Rainbows
Still off the tracks. Despite promising efforts by top-level management, the Washington Metro corporate culture is still dysfunctional. An audit of $1.9 million in blanket purchase agreements found missing and incomplete documents, reports the Washington Times. “Auditors found that Metro employees failed to record $845,000 as BPAs in their accounting software, a problem the inspector general attributed…
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Bacon Bits: As Virginia Slowly Unravels
Yes, it’s OK to panic. Norfolk Southern Corp., the beneficiary of local incentives a year or two ago when it moved jobs from Roanoke to Norfolk, now is said to be close to announcing the relocation of its headquarters to Atlanta. “A deal has already been struck,” Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander told the Virginian-Pilot. It appears that…