Category: Transportation
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Tech’s “Smart Infrastructure” Initiative Progresses
by James A. Bacon Virginia Tech has been re-thinking for a several years now how to invigorate traditional engineering disciplines by integrating civil engineering and computer engineering to create “smart infrastructure.” The $100 million initiative received a $5 million boost yesterday from the Hitt family, owners of Falls Church-based Hitt Contraction, a company that typically recruits eight to ten Virginia…
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Pulse Has a Pulse after All
by James A. Bacon When last I blogged about Richmond Pulse, the Bus Rapid Transit plan for the city’s Broad Street corridor, the projected cost had leaped $11.5 million over its original $50 million estimate. While I support mass transit in the right circumstances, I saw little good coming from this project, in which state…
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In Metro’s Disruption, a New Opportunity
The good news is that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is making the tough but desperately needed measures to maintain the commuter rail system serving the Washington region. The authority has announced a “massive” maintenance surge to address chronic infrastructure issues that have created safety issues and hindered trains from staying on schedule. The…
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Even the Washington Post Has Noticed that Metro Is Failing
by James A. Bacon How bad is the Washington Metro rail system? So bad that only 84% of its trains ran on time, mainly due to poor maintenance. So bad that ridership declined 5% since 2010, even as transit ridership nationally was up. So bad that the system needs an extra $1.3 billion every year…
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Driving Down, Mass Transit Down, Telework Up
by James A. Bacon The trend toward less driving in the Washington metropolitan area has conformed to the devout wishes of greenies and planners alike over the past decade: Average daily vehicle miles driven per capita has declined steadily since 2005 from 25.7 miles to 22.6 miles. (Driving in 2015 showed a 0.1 mile up-tick, not…
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Reader Alert: Another Jeremiad about Debt and Risk
Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., at the Wall Street Journal reminds us how countries around the world, including the United States, are doubling down on debt to stave off recession: The Richmond Fed’s “bailout barometer” shows that, since the 2008 crisis, 61% of all liabilities in the U.S. financial system are now implicitly or explicitly guaranteed…
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Somehow, This Comes as No Surprise
Here’s the latest news about the proposed Richmond Pulse project: The expected cost of the project, which would extend Bus Rapid Transit service along 7.6 miles of Richmond’s Broad Street, has just increased by $11 million. In other words, the contract to design and build the project came in 32% higher than estimated. “Unfortunately, there are…
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Making NIT More Productive, More Resilient
by James A. Bacon For the millions of Virginians living above the fall line, the struggle that Hampton Roads has with rising sea levels and increasing flooding may seem remote and far away. Why should we care? After all, does anybody in Hampton Roads give a hoot about our problems? Kit Chope, vice president of sustainability for…
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How Not to Think about Mass Transit
by James A. Bacon Michael Paul Williams, a feature columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, takes a dim view of a decision by the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors to discontinue a subsidized bus route between downtown Richmond and Chesterfield Plaza. “Chesterfield, despite its dramatic demographic shifts and an increasing poverty rate, continues to turn a blind…
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Gramercy District a Game Changer
by James A. Bacon Northern Virginia technologist and developer Minh Le is partnering with Microsoft Inc. to build Gramercy District, a $500 million “smart city” development adjacent to the planned Ashburn Metro station on the Silver Line, reports the Washington Business Journal. Not only will Microsoft contribute technology it will participate as an investor. (Details on Microsoft’s…
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Time for Richmond and Hampton Roads to Join Forces?
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s economic growth ground to a standstill in 2014 and lagged the nation in 2015. Recognizing that metropolitan regions are the growth engines of the early 21st century economy, civic boosters are looking to spur growth and development at the regional level — but that picture doesn’t look much prettier. The Brookings Institution’s Metro…
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Bi-County Parkway, R.I.P.
Debate over the north-south Bi-County Parkway between Prince William and Loudoun Counties roiled the closing months of the McDonnell administration. Today, plans for that highway, which would have skirted by the Manassas Battlefield, is about as dead as a transportation project can be. As Inside NoVa, writes, the parkway existed for thirty years as only…
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Running Out of Options
Declaring the the global economy is “highly vulnerable” to adverse shocks, the International Monetary Fund is urging the United States and other major governments to prepare contingency plans that could be rolled out quickly to boost growth. What options does the U.S. have? Traditionally, the federal government has two main policy levers: monetary and fiscal policy.…
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Threading the Needle on Long-Term Debt
by James A. Bacon Virginia has more than tripled its tax-supported debt over the last decade, according to the December 2015 report of the Debt Capacity Advisory Committee, but the state still has enough capacity to support the issuance of another $603 million per year in added debt in Fiscal years 2016 and 2017 without undermining…
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Uber and Lyft Are Wonderful, but Not that Wonderful
It makes a great story: The Department of Motor Vehicles registered some 86,000 drivers under new “transportation service company” rules in 2015, Virginians are availing themselves of Uber and Lyft ridership services in record numbers, and the rate of alcohol-related automobile crashes declined markedly last year. It stands to reason, more Virginians are taking rides with…