Some interesting solutions were offered at Governor-Elect Kaine's transportation town hall in Manassas on Tuesday, among which were extending Metro's Orange Line to Gainesville and building Japanese-style double-decker highways. Extending the Orange Line beyond its current Vienna/Fairfax terminus makes sense because of the traffic that plagues the I-66 corridor, but adding a second level of freeway doesn't really make sense unless one portion is dedicated for bus and carpool use, with at least a restriction of three people so that it can encourage the kind of informal carpooling ("slugging") we see along the existing dedicated HOV-3 corridor on I-395 and 95.
Kaine, as he said in the debates, reiterated his support for extending Metro to Dulles Airport, as well as widening portions of I-66 inside the beltway using the highway's existing footprint. What wasn't mentioned in the article, however, was the need for extending Metro's Yellow Line southward from Huntington to Fort Belvoir to cover the congested Richmond Highway corridor and accomodate the 30,000 office workers moving south out of Arlington due to the Defense Department's base closure plan. Another alternative to provide Metro to Fort Belvoir using fewer track miles would be to extend the Blue Line from Franconia-Springfield along Backlick Road. Still a third alternative would be to build a light rail line using dedicated pavement surfaces. In any case, expect traffic to get worse in Southern Fairfax County until a consistent, reliable Metro connection is built.
If you're carpooling to work, you should be rewarded. Register your carpool, and earn great benefits from retailers in the Washington, D.C., area using a system that works something like frequent flyer miles. How does it work? As the
program overview will tell you, there is no catch. Companies are eager to provide their marketing to carpoolers in their targeted zip codes, so they pay NuRide money to give you special offers and free rewards just for sharing the ride to work and helping to reduce congestion and clear the air.
Helping solve the problems of traffic and pollution, while altruistic, shouldn't have to be your only reward for sharing the ride to work. This is a well-known company featured in area media, and when I was an intern these folks came to do a presentation for our organization. I had almost forgotten about them until I stumbled across their Web site thanks to the new Google ads I've put up. Check it out. It's one of the rare examples of the private sector coming in to promote something good for society where government can't necessarily act on its own, and you can be a part of it.
From Richmond by rail
For all that people may complain of traffic, there's at least one way of getting around that means bypassing it altogether: rail. While most people negotiated traffic this Thanksgiving weekend, I took a train from Richmond's
Main Street Station to visit the folks up in Northern Virginia. The ride was pretty smooth, and I arrived at my destination in about the same time it would have taken to drive the same distance – assuming perfect traffic conditions, that is.
From Richmond's Main Street Station to its suburban station at Staples Mill Road, it takes about 15 minutes to negotiate the stretch of railyard track that hasn't yet been completely upgraded for passenger service. After that, it's a smooth 2-hour journey the rest of the way to
Alexandria's Union Station, where a quick transfer to the
King Street Metro rail station next door puts me on my way home.
The rail service along Amtrak's Northeast corridor from Washington to Newport News is possibly one of Virginia's best kept secrets. While several trains make the trip each day, only two or three make the stop in Richmond's downtown station – both of which were sold out on the day before Thanksgiving, I might add. Richmond is fortunate to be on the same Northeast corridor that connects Washington with New York and Boston, but unfortunately the service in its downtown core hasn't yet reached parallel with its Northern counterparts.
With enough political will, public funding could upgrade the rail corridor between Richmond, D.C., or even Newport News to provide
Acela Express-type high-speed electric service to all points in Virginia. Electric service would also eliminate the current 30-minute delay that exists for travelers going north of Washington who have to wait for the train to switch engines from diesel to electric, as well as insulate travelers from price increases in the volatile – and shrinking – worldwide oil market. More daily trips, meanwhile, would allow commuters to use the train as an alternative to commuting along clogged Interstates, and specially timed weekend service could allow for day trips between the three cities.
For all the talk of relieving traffic by widening roads, maybe it's time we support a viable alternative to the driving that is causing the traffic in the first place.
One of the major solutions being touted for the Washington metropolitan area is the construction of High-Occupancy/Toll lanes to replace the existing system of single-use High-Occupancy lanes around the region. Instead of restricting these lanes to carpools and buses, people would be able to pay a fee, which gets higher during rush hour and other times of congestion, to bypass the lanes' HOV requirement. Sounds good, right?
Here's the problem. As
this Washington Post article shows, a vast system of informal carpooling has already sprung up around the existing HOV system. Allowing people to pay tolls to bypass the HOV requirement could endanger this system.
"So what?" You might ask. "No one uses the carpool lanes anyway." Well, that's just not true. What's true is that fewer
vehicles use the carpool lanes -- that's what makes them run so fast during rush hour. And in fact, while using fewer vehicles, according to VDOT statistics these lanes carry on average twice the number of passengers as the car-only lanes of 395 during rush hour. By taking more cars off the road, HOV lanes allow for a smoother ride for everyone.
Not only do HOV requirements act as the strongest incentive for carpooling, but they also act as a strong incentive for using express buses, which would otherwise be at the bottom of the public transportation food chain in terms of people's choices. When I lived in Springfield, I was able to ride the 18H Metrobus to the Pentagon in 30 minutes using the HOV lanes. The ride home took a little bit longer because HOV restrictions are lifted on part of the lanes toward the beltway. Expect similar delays if new traffic is added through tolls.
Unfortunately, these lanes are being supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, neither of whom are eager to raise taxes to solve our region's transportation problems. And as I wrote in an earlier post, HOT lanes can make sense for those stretches of roadway which are not yet built or are on existing toll corridors. But as one slugger in the post article put it, "I really hate to see someone messing with a system that works." Hear, hear.
This Associated Press article featured on the WTOP Radio Web site describes the problem facing Northern Virginia transit: skyrocketing demand, and zero funds to compensate. Both Metro rail and local bus systems have seen marked increases in ridership -- a total of 3.3 million trips more than than last year's total of 125 million. The only transit service not to see an increase was the
Virginia Railway Express, which has reached capacity. The problem?
"You can't get more rail cars until you get more money," said Rick Taube, executive director of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission. "The Virginia General Assembly says it would like to pay 95 percent of the public transportation costs not covered by the federal government or fares.
"To meet its own target, the state of Virginia should be providing twice as much for transit as they do."
Out of Virginia's transportation budget only 14 percent currently goes to transit. Given Northern Virginia's infamous traffic problems and these new statistics showing that people are increasingly turning to transit to avoid gridlock, that needs to change.
Among the proposals that have been put forward for solving Virginia's transportation funding problem has been privatizing our road system. For some arteries like the
Dulles Toll Road, which is already connected to the privately owned
Dulles Greenway, this makes a certain amount of sense. For others, like the existing HOV lanes on Interstate 395 between Woodbridge and the 14th Street Bridge, it constitutes a selling out of Virginia taxpayer money.
If Virginia is going to turn to the private sector to manage its roadways, we need to make sure we're not going to get the short end of the bargain. Companies so far have promised road improvements in exchange for control of roadways, but we've seen nothing yet about what kind of pricing will be in place.
This Washington Post article citing Kaine's transportation choices moving forward, for example, describes the HOT (High-Occupancy Toll) lane option as "expensive," but we don't know much more than that.
What is appalling is that the proposal to privatize the existing HOV lanes on I-395 and 95 would mean that taxpayers who paid to have that stretch of road built will have to start paying a toll on that portion of roadway even when it's not rush hour. And during rush hour, they'll pay more. While those lanes are restricted to buses and carpools during rush hour, they are free to use at any other time.
The reasoning behind privatizing the I-95/395 HOV lanes is that the private developer will pay to extend them to Fredericksburg, a plan that has been on the books for some time now but lacks the needed funding. Fine. But given that a significant portion most of the way to Fredericksburg has already been built by taxpayer dollars, we need to make sure the road stays in taxpayer hands.
As for the Dulles Toll Road, privatization might make sense if the money can help fund the Dulles Metrorail project, since encouraging transit use is a good way to help reduce traffic. But we need to make sure that the prices on that portion of the toll road don't skyrocket to the levels currently seen on the privately owned Dulles Greenway -- while the Dulles tolls range from 50-75 cents, trips on the Greenway cost at least twice as much (perhaps the Greenway got its name from the amount of money they charge to use it).
For all that politicians rail against tax increases (even Kaine has pledged not to raise the gas tax), it seems making people pay prohibitive prices to use what were once public roads may not be such an appealing option either. But then again, maybe high prices for roadway use might push people to support transit instead.
Welcome
Welcome to Forward Virginia, the first blog (at least as far as I know) cataloguing, detailing and discussing transportation issues in Northern Virginia and around the commonwealth. Tim Kaine was recently elected to succeed Mark Warner as governor, and his campaign slogan, "Moving Virginia Forward," is the inspiration for the title of this blog. It is also the aim of smart transportation policy that will help free up gridlock, reduce pollution and improve the quality of life for all Virginians.
Join me as I take a look at some of the greatest transportation issues facing Virginia today, with an eye on the past for guidance as we look forward to tackling these problems. Though I am a Tim Kaine supporter, I aim to take a non-partisan approach in looking at areas such as roads, transit and smart growth in helping move Virginia forward. I also have a Web site about D.C. commuting at my home page,
geocities.com/omaryak -- feel free to take a look, and let me know what you'd like to see covered in this blog as well as on my home page.
