Senator seeks fix for Mall traffic
Tourists gather for an open-top bus tour of D.C. (Marvin Joseph/Post)
A U.S. senator from Virginia has had it with tour buses clogging roads around the Mall and he is calling on D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty to do something about it.
Sen. Jim Webb (D) said in a letter sent to Fenty and the National Park Service chief Jonathan Jarvis that traffic around the downtown park had become "unsustainable."
The crush of spring and summer tour buses, which often park illegally, Webb said, is "reducing both the quality of life for area commuters and our visitors' experience."
The senator offered four remedies: crack down on double-parking, expand bus parking and drop-off areas, encourage tourists to use trains, and coordinate tour times to avoid rush hours.
Washington had about 14.8 million U.S. visitors in 2009, generating more than $5.2 billion in spending, according to the tourism bureau Destination D.C.
Read Webb's letter.
-- Mike McPhate
By
Michael Bolden
| June 16, 2010; 10:53 AM ET
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Congestion
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Posted by: krickey7 | June 16, 2010 11:08 AM | Report abuse
as a licensed tour guide in wash dc senator webb does not quite get the issue...first of our dc govt needs to work together with national park service in providing tour bus parking and second needs to not only ticket but tow police fire and other emerg vehicles who double park along major streets just to get coffee and donuts...on any given day just take a drive along penn ave const ave and best yet....E street..from union station to the white house...must be a slow day on the hill for this senator.....
Posted by: wmnatzakanian | June 16, 2010 12:09 PM | Report abuse
Watch out, wmnatzakanian, Webb is armed and dangerous. He might pop a cap in you.
Posted by: seraphina21 | June 17, 2010 9:10 AM | Report abuse
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Kudos to Sen. Webb for not just being a crank about tour busses, which are a critical element of the tourism industry. His proposals sound worthy of further exploration and implementation.