A whole network is better than one line
Northern Virginia Congressmen Gerry Connolly and Jim Moran have introduced a bill authorizing (but not allocating money) to study and conduct preliminary engineering for suburban expansions of all of Virginia’s Metrorail lines, as well as an extension of Maryland’s Purple Line light rail project into Virginia, and unspecified “Metrorail capacity expansions” throughout the region.
While it’s good news that Northern Virginia’s congressional representation has an eye toward transit (though Frank Wolf’s absence is notable), the bill is a reminder of the fact that for many people in this region, the word “transit” is one-dimensional code for Metrorail. This is unfortunate, because while Metrorail is undeniably great, it isn’t the best solution to every transit problem we face. If we could make the intellectual jump to accept a more diverse collection of transit modes, we would have the means to provide a better and more comprehensive regional transit network, faster and for less money.
[Continue reading Dan Malouff's post here at BeyondDC.]
Dan Malouff is an Arlington County transportation planner who blogs independently at BeyondDC.com. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.
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Dan Malouff
| January 13, 2011; 2:12 PM ET
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HotTopic, Local blog network, Metro, Virginia, traffic, transportation
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Posted by: KenVaughn | January 14, 2011 11:27 AM | Report abuse
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Our country is $14 trillion in debt. That comes out to roughly $45,000 per person. Our annual deficit is $1.4 trillion, or $4,500 per person. We are currently spending close to $7 billion on the Silver line ($1 billion federal) to add a few ten thousand riders to the system at a cost of over $100,000 per rider coupled with an annual subsidy that will be in excess of $10,000 per rider. Despite this, transit advocates believe that we need to subsidize transit even more.
We simply do not have the money for these boondoggle projects. It is immoral to financially enslave our children to a debt; the time has come to change our ways and to pay our dues.