I apologize to readers who have over-dosed on the Rail-to-Metro story, but it is one of the most important public works project in Virginia history. All facets of the story need to be explored.
This Youtube video comes from Pat Kane, a Northern Virginia urban planner whom I first met in the late 1980s when I started covering transportation and land use issues for Virginia Business magazine. Back then, some 20 years ago, Kane was a visionary for re-developing Tysons Corner into the kind of higher-density pedestrian-oriented community that many people have since come to favor.
Kane suffered from a stroke a couple of years back, rendering him unable to type. But his mind is still lucid. Thanks to Youtube, he can still express himself. In this video commentary, he makes the case for Rail-to-Dulles heavy rail. Fifty percent of the population does not drive, he notes — that includes teenagers, the elderly and the handicapped, like himself. One benefit of heavy rail that has not been factored into the debate, he suggests, is its ability to provide mobility for non-motorists.
All the more reason to go back to the drawing boards and get Rail to Dulles right.