Morning Roundup: Goodbye, Abe Edition
Vegetate to Close at the End of the Month
D.C. Police Seek Suspect in Series of Bank Robberies
Suspect in 9-Year-Old's Murder Found Dead in D.C. Jail
Wizards Owner Abe Pollin Dies at 85
After some much needed R&R (that's rest and relaxation, not roads and rails), Transit on Thursday returns to Washington only to find that all hell has broken loose on Metro. The Sliver Line extension to Dulles, looking good when we left, is turning into a first rate debacle, and clouds of smoke seem to be drifting though the tunnels on just about every line.
We can't turn our backs for even a few seconds, can we?!? What gives?
That's No Way to Build a Railroad
Up until a few weeks ago, the only question swirling around the proposed Metro extension out to Dulles through Tysons Corner was, "How?". Officials and residents busied themselves debating whether their coveted project, four decades in the making, would run through Tysons on an elevated track or through a more pedestrian- and developer-friendly underground tunnel. Then the Federal Transit Administration, which had provisionally offered to put up more that $9 billion in funding for the project, issued a warning. "Cut costs or we walk away," was what their report said in so many words.
So how did this project, seen by many Northern Virginians as crucial to helping stem the increasing traffic in the area and morphing Tysons Corner into a suburban mini-city, suddenly fall out of favor with the feds? Two words: cost-effectiveness.
Photo by christaki
The FTA's $900 billion has always been contingent on the project meeting certain criteria which the agency lumps together into a measure of cost-effectiveness. The Dulles project, the largest ever considered by FTA, has always teetered near the edge of what is acceptable in FTA officials' eyes. Delays and cost overruns during the tunnel debate have finally pushed it over the edge, and FTA is calling for a $250 million price cut to qualify for their contribution.
There are two problems with this. First, to cut the required $250 million, project designers will likely cut features like pedestrian bridges or parking lots that are considered "unnecessary" to the operation of the line. However, these are the very features that will make the rail line user-friendly. Omitting them will decrease ridership and revenue, as well as reducing the impact the project might have on the traffic congestion and economic development. In four more words: penny wise, pound foolish.
Second, FTA's whole idea of cost-effectiveness is bogus. It essentially looks at the average amount of time the project would save a person driving between its two end points, and then calculates the cost per minute saved multiplied by the expected ridership. If the price of saving a few minutes is too high, or projected ridership is initially too low, then no money for you! This completely ignores people who would take intermediate trips, as well as new riders who might use the service as development along the line continues. FTA is also supposed to include these other measures, but they've been routinely criticized by the General Accounting Office for failing to do it. A few pretty big omissions, if we might say.
Like tattoos and tax attorneys, transit service is not something you can buy on the cheap. You get what you pay for, and if you make the investment up front, you'll be rewarded for decades to come. If you skimp, you'll get a sub-par result that will end up costing you more to clean up than it would have to do it right the first time. That there's currently more smoke and flames than 8-car trains running though Metro's existing tunnels should be proof enough of that.
Labor Day Metro Schedule
For those of you sticking around town this weekend, Metro will be operating on a Sunday schedule on Monday, due to the Labor Day Holiday. The Cheverly, Landover and New Carrollton Metro stations on the Orange line will also be entirely closed starting 10 p.m., Friday, August 31 to 11:59 p.m., Monday, September 3 for major track work. Plan accordingly.
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In the end, the Feds walking away at this moment may be the best thing that can happen in the near-term. We all know that a tunnel is preferable to an elevated track in the middle of a divided road. And further, adding more riders to the Orange Line into the city during rush hour is simply not possible. Perhaps, by walking away, the Feds will force local officials in NOVA and DC to come together and really think about transit between Dulles and the urban core. We all know a new river crossing is needed. Perhaps this can push that further along and get us a track underground.
Of course, what will probably happen is further cuts that build a line that is neither convenient, well used or out of the way.
you got two errors there, both of which should say $900 million:
Then the Federal Transit Administration, which had provisionally offered to put up more that $9 billion in funding for the project...
and
The FTA's $900 billion has always been contingent on the project meeting certain criteria which the agency lumps together into a measure of cost-effectiveness
Silver line from Dulles to Tysons, McLean, Palisades, Georgetown, cross-town to Waldorf?
Why not run another VRE line out to tysons? Metro is meant for transit within the city, not so much a suburban commuter system. Metro should be focusing on widening tracks within the city. Virginia should be improving its own commuter rail and bus system.
Although theoretically in favor of it, I'm now crossing my fingers that it will go down in flames. Better nothing than something half-assed, and the Rosslyn tunnel/capacity issue is the elephant in the room that everybody is ignoring. Tyson's is and always be hell, and will never be a transit-oriented urban space.
#4 You're wrong. Metro was planned from the beginning as system for ferrying suburbanites into the city, not an urban subway. But I do agree that Metro needs to bite the bullet, build more tunnels, and figure out a way to express-track the system. A 2-track system is it's fundamental flaw now, and if it were truly designed as an urban subway, it would have had 4 from the start.
Metro needs more lines, period. New york is a rare exception, and many of the best subways have no such express system, including Moscow, London, and Paris.
Living in New York, I can tell you that the express tracking is really not as beneficial as it seems, unless you're going between two express stops. Also, even in rush hour, the capacity is not reduced by express lines. All you get is a small travel time reduction.
Also, intermediate-density systems like traffic-separated streetcar and BRT systems would take loads off streets and subways.
I have to agree that in some ways it would be better not to proceed with this current proposal. Unfortunately losing out on this round of federal funding would probably delay the project by 10 years because of the paucity of FTA funding for new rail projects. In my opinion, the best option for now would be to just build the first phase to Wiehle Avenue, with the Tysons segment underground, and delay the section to the airport and until a new Blue Line through the city can be built. Of course, the Airport Authority would never go for that, and they will be the ones building it.
Why not VRE? Because there are no rail lines anywhere around that area. There used to be one, but it is now the W&OD trail. Back in the 60's during Metro's planning stages, there was a proposal to run trains to Herndon on this right-of-way, that could have been extended all the way to Leesburg and Bluemont. Of course this didn't happen, the rails were torn up, and now its a trail. Legally it's still possible to convert it back to a rail line (that's the only reason most rail-trails can be built), but we all know that's not gonna happen.
#5, the first approved Metro plan in 1965 actually only had five stations outside the district, ending in Silver Spring and Pentagon City. But that did change, and the 1968 plan, which is basically what we have now, also had approved extensions to Germantown, Laurel, Bowie, Brandywine, Hybla Valley, Burke, Centerville, and Dulles.
New York's express tracks are the exeption, not the rule, but they are quite important. They are the reason NY can run their trains all night, b/c they can just close 2 tracks for trackwork. They are the reason that one line, the Lexington Avenue line, can carry 1.3 million people a day. But consider this: The Second Avenue Line, which will be parallel to the Lex Ave line, has been planned since the 20's, and while it was originally supposed to be 4 and 6(!) tracks, it will now be built as-you guessed it- a two track line.
Just some food for thought.
Would it be that inconceivable for VRE to build out its own lines to the outposts of northern VA and to Dulles, and link it back to the West Falls Church station or whatever makes the most sense? If the tracks are going to be built anyway, why do they necessarily need to be a part of the same system? I share the concerns for increasing entry to the single metro line and not doing anything to alleviate the choke points at the river and downtown.
there is no General Accounting Office, anymore.
GAO is the Government Accountability Office.