Transit on Thursday: Switching Sides Edition
Baseball's trading deadline is July 31, but the District's transportation scene experienced it's own version of a pennant race deal yesterday. Now-former head of DDOT Emeka Moneme resigned from his post to take up the Chief Administrative Officer post at Metro. Mayor Fenty can't be too upset at the loss; WMATA is just returning the favor after Fenty plucked current City Administrator Dan Tangherlini from Metro back in November 2006.
David Alpert has the first definitive swing at wrapping up Moneme's DDOT tenure, noting that Moneme had his "heart...clearly in the right place," even if some of his initiatives were less than popular and possibly followed the path of least resistance.
For the time being, the agency's interim director is Frank Seales Jr., whom no one, including City Paper's Mike DeBonis, really seems to know much about. His work at DDOT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is all well and good, but it's not clear he has the type of planning background that the agency needs. Dealing with the plethora of issues that DDOT faces at the moment - which include an ambitious new pedestrian plan and efforts to increase the city's bicycling reputation with advertising and bikeshare programs - is going to require a hybrid of Moneme's big ideas and the foresight to see them through effectively.
So where should DDOT go from here?
Photo by volcanojw.
West Coast import John Catoe has done a good job of guiding Metro so far - a similar reach for someone with experience in fostering multiple modes of urban transportation (read: someone who won't just rebuild roads) is definitely in the agency's best interest. Whoever takes over has many challenges to face, but incredible opportunities to work with.
As for Moneme's new gig, he'll be heading up the day-to-day administrative tasks at Metro, returning to the organization that he worked for in 2006 and 2007. Included in this is the oversight of WMATA's workforce department, which is even more vital when considered in the light of Metro's new plans to massively alter it's maintenance schedule.
Dulles Rail Continues to Get More and More Expensive: Everything is seemingly getting more pricey these days, and Metrorail construction isn't exempt. Unfortunately, though, the last thing that the proposed Silver Line needed was a price hike. The Post reports this morning that cost estimates for the first phase of the new light rail line have jumped upwards by $54 million. While it may seem to pale in comparison to the overall payment of $1.63 billion to the contractors performing the job, any sort of upward tick could set off alarms to federal officials - whose support of the project is cautious at best and volatile at worst.
In another downer, the construction dates for the project have also been pushed back - Phase I construction is now scheduled to finish in July 2013, one year later than previously estimated. The first phase is the lynchpin of Virginia officials' hope to transform Tyson's Corner into a revitalized urban downtown destination, instead of the massive parking lot it is at the moment.
Engines and Cabooses: Three SuperStops are planned for Columbia Pike bus routes, featuring amenities like Wi-Fi and heated seats and lights... MARC issues a mea culpa for recent poor performance... Fairfax County may lose express bus funding in 2011... MTA buses' biggest enemy? Could be plastic bags... D.C. drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents than drivers in any other American city... Rob Goodspeed attempts to objectively tackle the differences between New York and Washington subways.