Category: Transportation
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Why Do We Subsidize Inter-City Rail When Buses Can Do the Job?
Liberals love buses — at least when the buses are run by municipally owned enterprises with union workforces and operate at a loss that requires government subsidies. When buses provide profitable, inter-city service that competes with Amtrak, well, they’re not quite so enamored. But conservatives love profitable, inter-city buses, which represent a triumph of entrepreneurial…
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What’s the Story with Innovation Center?
by James A. Bacon At long last, Northern Virginia leaders have a source of regional tax dollars that they can divvy up according to local priorities, not dictated by Richmond. When they deliberated last week on how to divvy up the first dollop of money — $209 million, including a $94 million bond package —…
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The Eminence Grise Behind the Bi-County Parkway
by James A. Bacon Everybody who’s followed the politics of real estate development in Virginia has heard the name of John T. “Til” Hazel, the high-profile attorney and developer who did so much to shape the human settlement patterns of Northern Virginia. Hazel was gregarious, combative and willing to campaign like a politician to counter…
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You’ve Built It. Will They Come?
by James A. Bacon The Washington Metro system is bracing for its toughest challenge since opening 37 years ago — persuading people to ride the Silver Line to Tysons. So argued Dana Hedgpeth and Scott Clement in the Washington Post yesterday. Drawing upon the results of a WaPo poll, they suggest that Northern Virginians rely…
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Should Dulles Co-opt NoVa Economic Development?
by James A. Bacon Last week, Reed Fawell III noted in his article on this blog, “A Mortgage on Northern Virginia’s Future,” that few Northern Virginians or Washingtonians had paused to ask whether the massive road investments proposed to advance Washington Dulles International Airport as an air-cargo hub made sense. But clearly people are beginning to…
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A Mortgage on NoVa’s Future
Dulles’ speculative bid to become a national air-cargo hub dominates the transportation, growth and economic-development agenda of Northern Virginia. Can it succeed? And if it does, will it crowd out other paths to prosperity?
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Another Tired Defense of the Henrico Status Quo
Addressing the Henrico Business Council, County Manager John Vithoulkas made a familiar case for a 4% meals tax yesterday. The county, which has already cut to the bone, faces another $100 million revenue shortfall over the next five years, due in great part to the recent recognition of its massive pension obligations. A meals tax…
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PARC Tackles Parking
by James A. Bacon A couple of years ago, the creative geniuses at Xerox’s renowned Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) labs were brainstorming ways to shake up one of the stodgiest sectors of the American economy: parking. A new wave of technologies made it possible to do things never thought possible before, such as adjusting…
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Parking Libre!
by James A. Bacon City planners in the District of Columbia want to waive parking requirements for new buildings near its 40 Metro stations. A change in the city’s zoning code, part of a comprehensive overhaul, would allow developers to determine how much parking, if any, was needed, reports the Wall Street Journal. Relaxation of…
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Bacon Drops into the Urbanism Speakeasy
Andy Boenau, a private-sector transportation planner in Richmond, is really passionate about his job — so passionate that in his spare time he publishes a blog and podcast, “Urbanism Speakeasy.” Every week he interviews people with fascinating perspectives on smart growth, New Urbanism and urban planning. In recent weeks, to mention just two examples, Andy…
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Dulles’ Grand Plan
How is it that Northern Virginia, with some of the worst traffic headaches in the country, has embarked upon an economic development plan to bring thousands more trucks into the region? by Reed Fawell III In October 2005, the Washington Airports Task Force (WATF) got a wake-up call. Its transportation consultant reported that traffic heading east…
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McDonnell Solicits Ideas for “Air Rights” Development
The McDonnell administration is soliciting “innovative ideas” from the private sector to develop air rights at the Rosslyn Metro station in Arlington and the East Falls Church Metro station on Interstate 66. In administrative parlance, this solicitation is a “request for information,” which will gather feedback on the feasibility and types of development that could…
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No Easy Answers for American Legion Bridge
The last bridge built to span the Potomac River in the Washington region was the American Legion Memorial Bridge, part of the Capital Beltway, in 1962. The population of Montgomery and Fairfax counties, which the bridge connected, totaled about 600,000. In the intervening six decades, the combined populations now exceed 2.1 million, accounting for 36%…
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Time to Consider New Downtown Parking Models in VA
In May Richmond City Council voted to increase the hourly rate for street parking downtown from $.50 to $.75 per hour with the goals of netting an additional $250,000 yearly in revenue and helping downtown businesses by increasing the turnover in parking spaces. By way of market research, according to the Times-Dispatch, city officials had…
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Another Take On Cuccinelli’s Vague Road Plan
By Peter Galuszka So far, Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign for Virginia governor has been long on rhetoric and short on specifics. Such was the case with his piece on Sunday’s Washington Post Local Opinions page headlined: “Taking the politics of roads funding in Virginia.” What caught my eye were two of Cuccinelli’s ideas. The first is…