Category: Transportation
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The Slow, Inevitable Demise of Traditional Mass Transit?
by James A. Bacon The 2010s were supposed to be the era of mass transit in the Washington metropolitan region. Millenials were jettisoning their automobiles in favor of walking, biking, buses and rail. Localities were zoning for denser development around transit stops and Metro stations. State and federal governments were channeling more money into new rail projects.…
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Virginia's Maritime Future Is Now
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s maritime industry has long anticipated the arrival of the new giant, post-Panamax ships, and now they’re here — a couple of years before they were anticipated, and well before the completion of the Panama Canal expansion that is expected to release the floodgates. As the East Coast port with the deepest…
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Virginia’s Maritime Future Is Now
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s maritime industry has long anticipated the arrival of the new giant, post-Panamax ships, and now they’re here — a couple of years before they were anticipated, and well before the completion of the Panama Canal expansion that is expected to release the floodgates. As the East Coast port with the deepest…
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Tough on Bad Drivers
The latest from WalletHub… Virginia is the third strictest state in the country when dealing with high-risk drivers. The Old Dominion is consistently among the tougher states for Driving Under the Influence penalties and prevention, speeding enforcement and reckless driving enforcement. For what it’s worth: Red states are slightly tougher on at-risk drivers than blue…
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More Sequestration Pain for Virginia
by James A. Bacon The pain of federal budget sequestration cuts in Virginia is not yet over. Look what The Washington Post reports today: According to the Defense Department research, things are likely to worsen over the next four years. From 2010 to 2012, Virginia experienced $9.8 billion in defense cuts, with the vast majority…
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Virginia's Spaceport: a Century-Long Commitment
by James A. Bacon The McAuliffe administration has settled a dispute with Orbital Science Corp. over insurance of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops Island. Orbital, which is in the business of launching payload into orbit, will reimburse the state for one-third of the $15 million in damages incurred by the spaceport when Orbital’s rocket exploded during lift-off…
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Virginia’s Spaceport: a Century-Long Commitment
by James A. Bacon The McAuliffe administration has settled a dispute with Orbital Science Corp. over insurance of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops Island. Orbital, which is in the business of launching payload into orbit, will reimburse the state for one-third of the $15 million in damages incurred by the spaceport when Orbital’s rocket exploded during lift-off…
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Does Uber Save Lives?
Speaking of safer roads… Consider the impact of Uber on peoples’ driving habits. Richmond Biz Sense reports that more than 1,200 vehicles in the City of Richmond, Chesterfield County and Henrico County have signed up with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to pick up passengers for hire under the Uber banner. That’s more than double…
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Stricter Penalties, Safer Roads
by James A. Bacon I will concede this upfront: Bacon playing with statistics is like a toddler playing with a gun. Nothing good can come of it. With that word of warning, I ask readers to indulge me for a moment. WalletHub, the financial advisory website, has come up with yet another listicle — a…
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Closing the Books on the U.S. 460 Fiasco
The state will recover $46 million from US 460 Mobility Partners for work never performed on a 55-mile highway between Petersburg and Suffolk, reports the Virginian-Pilot. Under the settlement negotiated with the McAuliffe administration, US 460 will keep about $210 million of the payments it received under former Governor Bob McDonnell but waive an additional…
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An Update on the Tysons Makeover
by James A. Bacon Transforming Tysons in Fairfax County from an “edge city” into a walkable, mixed-use urban district may be the biggest, most ambitious suburban makeover ever attempted. Anywhere. In the history of the human race. The obstacles are formidable. The area grew up in such a helter skelter manner, and the layout of streets,…
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At Last: Objective Criteria for Scoring Transportation Projects
by James A. Bacon After lengthy study, the Commonwealth Transportation Board yesterday approved new metrics for prioritizing transportation funding in Virginia. The new metrics are designed to create objective criteria for evaluating the selection of road and rail projects. It remains to be seen how the metrics will be applied in practice, but in theory they represent a big step…
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Important Road Trip Advice
Source: WalletHub If you’re thinking about loading up your “go” cup and taking a road trip this summer, my advice is to head north to Maryland or, if you’re in a pinch, south to North Carolina. The penalties against drunk driving aren’t nearly as severe there as they are in Virginia. According to WalletHub, Virginia ranks 8th…
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When Forecasts Go Bad: Dulles
by James A. Bacon Washington-area media finally have woken up to the major problems gripping Washington Dulles International Airport. In an April article Michael Neibauer with the Washington Business Journal noted that this important “economic engine” of Northern Virginia is sputtering. The problem of declining domestic traffic, siphoned mainly to Reagan National Airport, is compounded by…
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How Tax Policy Favors Trucks over Rail
The “external” costs of transporting goods differ widely by truck and rail, but freight-transport prices do not reflect those costs, argues a new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). In very rough numbers, I calculate from the CBO numbers, the differential amounts to $.03 per ton-mile transported. That differential is not reflected in the…