Transit on Tuesday: The Streetcar Shuffle Edition
The Examiner yesterday brought us the unfortunate news that Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham is putting a temporary kibosh on the long-planned first phase of DDOT's streetcar plans. The first stage of the plan - noted as "Anacostia Phase 1" on the map to your right - would link Bolling Air Force Base to Anacostia Metro station. The line's a vital part of the District's long-term plans to connect the majority of Southeast to the rest of the city.
But Graham, whose concerns about the streetcar line "run pretty much the gamut from A to Z,” is calling for the Council to put off approving $11 million for the construction of the line, which would come out of funds already appropriated for the 11th Street Bridge project. As local development blog BeyondDC asks, "why now?":
It’s hard to tell whether Graham is stalling because he doesn’t understand the benefits of streetcars in general or only has questions about the Anacostia line specifically. It’s possible he has no objections and just wants to look democratic by holding a public meeting. We don’t know, but in any event, getting streetcars up and running is the single most important issue in District transportation planning...DDOT spokesperson Karyn Le Blanc noted that DDOT had been "anticipating beginning work in the fall" on the Anacostia line, and that the construction was projected to take about 18 months to complete - but for now, that's on hold pending the outcome of Graham's planned July 14 public hearing.
This isn't the first time the project's experienced delays - back in December 2006, it was thought that a plan involving the old CSX rail would be operational by the fall of 2007; obviously, that didn't happen.
Map taken from National Capital Planning Commission's approval of the first Anacostia streetcar segment. PDF.
Add It to Your List of Must See Tickers: When you're in a pinch, it can really help you out - checking the rail alerts at the top of the Metro home page is the least you can do to keep informed before heading out the door. But why just limit it to Metrorail? Why, indeed - Metro announced on Monday that they would begin to list major Metrobus delays in a similar fashion. In a scrolling ticker at the top of the page, bus delays caused by "police activity, emergency road closures, excessive vehicular traffic, inclement weather, public demonstrations or Metrorail station closures" would be detailed. Until NextBus gets off the ground again, it might be the next best thing.
Our Long Lost Wish to Go to Prom an a Metrobus, Barely Alive: Remember back a couple of months ago, when we told you how Metro was going to lose the ability to shuttle people to and from big venues like FedEx Field and Wolf Trap, due to a change in federal rules? The Examiner follows up with more on the complications arising from the change. The revised regulations will increase the number of private carriers seeking to access already crowded Metro bus bay facilities, which will increase Metro's costs by forcing them to provide bus supervisors to direct traffic around buses and purchase liability insurance. Those extra costs are leading Metro's Board of Directors to decide Thursday whether or not to double the rate that it charges for its charter services, in the few cases when it may still be able to provide them, to cover the difference -- a move that would only increase the likelihood that cheaper private charter companies will proliferate, thus putting more strain on Metro, and so on.
Engines and Cabooses: 14th Street and H Street Bridges to face temporary lane closures during evenings this week... We always like these little Forbes lists that WTOP features - this week, Forbes claims that D.C. is the number one city in the nation that "could dramatically reduce their gas usage"... Public hearing on hiking/biking trail running parallel to the ICC scheduled for July 10... High-tech Shirlington bus transfer station now open.