Northern Virginia streetcar plans bypass Annandale
There are streetcar and other mass transit projects in the works all over Northern Virginia. Unfortunately, nothing is planned near Annandale.
Alexandria and Arlington are moving forward with ambitious plans for streetcars. Fairfax County’s transit plans are focused on the Silver Line under construction, which will extend Metro from Tysons Corner to Dulles airport.
Transportation chiefs from those jurisdictions and regional agencies shared their plans at a community forum April 22 organized by the Northern Virginia Streetcar Coalition. There is growing interest in streetcars nationwide, as well as in the D.C. area. (The streetcar in the photo is in Portland, Ore.)
The Columbia Pike streetcar line, slated for 2016, would extend from Skyline Center on Route 7, along South Jefferson (spurring development in Bailey’s Crossroads), and along Columbia Pike to the Pentagon City Metro station.
It might be possible to eventually extend the streetcar line from Bailey’s Crossroads up Columbia Pike to Annandale but nothing is planned now, says Leonard Wolfenstein, Fairfax County’s transportation director. He also raised the possibility of creating a dedicated bus corridor along Little River Turnpike through Annandale.
Fairfax County is planning a rail system for 1-66 that would extend beyond the Vienna Metro station, a rapid transit bus system along the Route 28 corridor, and is studying plans for other high-volume corridors, such as Route 1, says Leonard Wolfenstein. Congestion on Little River Turnpike through Annandale would be addressed by road improvements. Two options will be outlined at the community meeting on Annandale revitalization next Thursday (7 p.m. at Annandale High School). According to Wolfenstein, negotiations on creating a bus route along the beltway HOT lanes are on hold.
Alexandria is focusing on putting in some sort of rapid transit line along three corridors: Route 1 from Pentagon City, through Crystal City and Potomac Yards, to the Braddock Road Metro station; another route along Beauregard Street; and a third route along Duke Street connecting the other two lines, says Rich Baer, the director of Transportation and Environment Services. Arlington will begin planning its part of the Crystal City-Potomac Yards route in fiscal year 2010. Major decisions need to be made about where the transit station will be located and how this system would be coordinated with other jurisdictions. He says Arlington’s Pike Ride bus along Columbia Pike serves 15,000 passengers a day, and a streetcar could move 30,000 people a day along that route.
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"He says Arlington’s Pike Ride bus along Columbia Pike serves 15,000 passengers a day, and a streetcar could move 30,000 people a day along that route."
How many people could some new car lanes move? It is unfortunate that Annandale does not get a street car of its own – only because all the car traffic that won't have lanes that the streetcars are sucking up will be, by default, heading through Annandale. What a godawful idea…
I lived in Landmark and worked near Maine Ave/DC for a while. I could take metro (driving to the van dorn station) to the city. Door to door it would take me about an hour and 15 minutes. I could drive door to door in 25 and the cost was similar. Needless to say, I drove most of the time because I would rather spend the extra hour+ a day with family than on the metro. I tell this simply to point out the main reasons people don't use public transportation – it is inconvenient and costs you time and is not that much more cost effective (if any at this point). One way to compete better is to make driving more difficult. So in reality, for the anti-car people this is a brilliant strategy. When they set up dedicated bus lanes/streetcar lanes, it creates additional car congestion/traffic. This makes the comparison between commuting via bus/streetcar vs car look good. Not so! say the PT people…the PT solutions will take cars off the road. Whether any cars are actually taken off the road or not, the fact that this will slow everyone down and rob them of time with family, cost everyone money, add to traffic misery and inhibit the ability to create additional capacity for the vast majority of commuters/travellers are all reasons that this is a putrid idea.