People's transportation plan: Virginia edition

bus stop
Originally uploaded by landslide virgo

The transit wish list blog entry I wrote a few weeks ago needs to be updated, but you could argue it is the basis for a "People's Transportation Plan" for DC.

See "A 2008 Transit/Transportation Planning Wish List for DC," and "Michael's Proposed Brown Line."

I asked Beyond DC to comment on the Fairfax County Transportation Plan which I haven't read, in the context of the Arlington County Transportation Plan which I have read (although not the final iteration) and it is great.

He wrote this as a comment to another blog entry, but it deserves wider attention:

No, the Ffx transportation plan isn’t very good. They’ve got a few visionary ideas in there, including light rail on Rt 28 and extension of the Columbia Pike streetcar up Rt 7 into Tysons, but for the most part it’s suburban business as usual road widenings, interchanges and new “parkways”.

If I were the god of Northern Virginia transportation, I’d:

- Build the Silver line through Tysons, with four stations as planned but in a subway rather than el. I’d end the Silver line at a park and ride station immediately west of Tysons, probably near Wolf Trap.

- Install express BRT between Leesburg and an end point somewhere in DC (Farragut Square? Foggy Bottom? Metro Center?). BRT to include a new, dedicated bus-only lane on I-66, with in-line stops at Rosslyn, one of the Falls Church Metros, somewhere at Tysons Corner, Fairfax County Parkway, Dulles Airport, somewhere in Ashburn, and Leesburg beltway, with an on-street terminal in downtown Leesburg.

- Expand the freight rail infrastructure near Alexandria to permit more VRE trains; extend VRE service to Richmond and Charlottesville.

- Construct the following streetcar/LRTs:

*Old Town – Tysons Corner via Rt 7;
*Old Town – Beltway via Little River Tnpk;
*DC – Downtown Falls Church via Rt 29;
*DC – Seven Corners via Wilson Blvd;
*Pentagon – Skyline City via Columbia Pk;
*Pengaon – Lorton via Rt 1;
*Glebe Rd crosstown route in Arlington;
*Tysons – Fair Oaks Mall via Chain Bridge Road to Nutley Street to Rt 50, with spur to George Mason Univ via downtown Fairfax;
*Purple Line extension from Bethesda to Tysons Corner;

-The following FREE bus shuttles:

*Tysons Corner loop;
*Nearest streetcar stop to Mount Vernon historic site;
*Fairfax Cnty Pkwy BRT stop to Reston Town Center;
*Fairfax Cnty Pkwy BRT stop to downtown Herndon;

Now Gleb wrote this comment, and it should be read more widely also:

Metrorail needs coverage improvements to encourage/ allow more people to live without a car. A Metro line to Dulles doesn't accomplish that.

An electrified commuter line with stops in just one or two spots in NoVa, then Union Station, makes much more sense. It could become a base for increased commuter rail service to the northwestern part of NoVa. Metrorail should be improved as an urban form of transit, which would include Tysons, but which would tie it to the city in an improved network, not just to the airport.