Comments on: Stretching the Limits of Washington’s Dense Core

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 26 May 2011 01:02:50 +0000

Throw VRE and MARC commuter rail service into the mix and you can begin to see where Fairfax County needs to be making an investment in LRT and BRT to make connections within the county, which is probably the greatest source of traffic for that part of the region.

By: Ocean Railroader

Ocean Railroader — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 03:17:49 +0000

That whole area is so packed with people that they could extend the Blue Line down to Fredricksburg and have a few branch lines break off of it and the two to five miles to sections of US Route 1 in that whole area is way over built up that they have six and five story tall condos that go for $600,000 along US 1 that are being built up like crazy

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:56:53 +0000

How about extending the Blue Line to Woodbridge, Dumfries or even Quantico? There is a larger portion of agencies affected by BRAC that are moving south. Why shouldn’t there be METRO access in the largest bedroom community in the Metro Area?

By: Jon Morgan

Jon Morgan — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:30:25 +0000

Correction: the last Metro station to open in DC was not Congress Heights (Green) in 2001 but NY/FL Aves. (Red) in 2004.

By: Jon Morgan

Jon Morgan — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 10:47:40 +0000

Some points others may already have made:

•The limitation on train frequency on the new Blue line is an important problem you’ve identified. But it could be solved more cheaply by separating the Blue and Yellow tracks in Virginia.

•If your Pink Line goes west of Falls Church and shares track with the Silver Line through Tyson’s Corner, you’ve just created on the Silver Line the same frequency limitation problem you’re solving on the new Blue. It seems better to take the Pink to East Falls Church and let people transfer between Pink, Silver, and Orange there; then each line can run more often.

•The proposed system map makes the Pink alignment in Virginia look really circuitous; I have a hard time thinking people west of about Glebe Rd. would get downtown faster on the Pink line than going to Falls Church and transferring to Orange or Silver.

The density, high transit use, and long commute times on Columbia Pike need to be addressed, as does the problem of headways on the new Blue. But I’m not sure they can be solved with the same project or that this is the best way. Your point about streetcars being inadequate is fair enough, but I might prefer light rail instead from East Falls Church through the corridor to King St. and Old Town Alexandria–a key destination which is now a 20 minute walk from Metro. If that line can go over the Wilson Bridge and connect with a future Purple Line in PG County (where the longest average commutes in the region are), and even a future connection from Falls Church or Tysons to Bethesda, even better!

By: Bo Maldonado

Bo Maldonado — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:16:24 +0000

So I’m almost a year late on this read. Being that I have ridden the Metrorail faithfully for over the last 25 years, I have to be the one to tell you what a MARVELOUS idea the Pink Line is. I must say this, the proposed Purple Line route through Tysons should be more than enough as a “fitting teammate” for the Silver Line between Tysons & Falls Church. So instead of having the Pink Line cover the area between Tysons East & The Pentagon, have the Purple Line serve those areas & have the Pink Line serve the Columbia Pike corridor to Annandale…and come to think about it, Metro has that little “branch off” just south of Pentagon built for whatever “just in case” comes up. This would be that just in case. Eliminate the Pentagon West station & keep that current Pink Line route to Bailey’s Crossroads (transfer to Purple there) & stretch it out to Annandale, as seen on the original Metrorail plan map I saw at Metro’s HQ (if it’s still there, it should be in the basement level near the model of the Franconia-Springfield station…if THAT is still there). Beyond that, have the Purple Line run that very section of the Pink Line between Tyson’s East & Glebe Road stations & it’ll definitely work for the large mass of western Arlington/eastern Fairfax counties that will eventually get tired of the mass confusion known as the 16′s buses. As far as Pentagon housing 3 lines, I’m sure it’ll work out fine because it’s just that 1 station & if you factor in the times in between the Yellow & Blue Lines (every 5 minutes between both at the peak of the peak hours now), a train serving the station every 3-4 minutes should not hurt the flow one bit, which is unlike that nightmare hub between Rosslyn & Farragut West. Everything else is great…for as long as Metro makes River Terrace a 2-level station & make the current Blue Line branch-off (between Stadium-Armory & Benning Rd) a link between the new Blue Line’s Largo corridor & the Orange/Silver corridor for the Redskins fans coming from FedEx Field by the Morgan Blvd station who’d want to use the Orange or Silver Lines…the same way Metro currently does with the Blue Line from Gallery Place to Pentagon via the Yellow/Green corridor (of course, the New Blue would make that obsolete with service to Mt. Vernon Sq station). It’s an idea to add on to yours. Thanks for reading this & thanks for that needed bit of information.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:37:10 +0000

It could work, then…

But just one nitpick: maybe DC should redraw its map to be a little more geographically accurate. The current map makes the Blue Line look like it’s taking a bigger detour than it actually is, and makes your proposed Pink Line look like an even bigger detour.

By: Yonah Freemark

Yonah Freemark — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:29:52 +0000

Alon -
They sure seem to be getting themselves together in relation to the streetcar project. And don’t forget that the last Metro station within city limits opened less than 10 years ago at Congress Heights (2001). If representatives from Maryland and Virginia can be convinced of the importance of the Blue Line reroute (perhaps by adding the incentive of a project like this Pink Line and another such project in Maryland), I don’t see why D.C. won’t be able to invest in big Metro projects again.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:17:35 +0000

Yonah, does the DC region succeed in producing funding for projects that are actually useful, like rerouting the Blue Line or any other construction in DC itself rather than its exurbs?

By: Yonah Freemark

Yonah Freemark — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:30:33 +0000

What’s funniest to me about this discussion about the lack of funding for transit expansions such as this one is that the Washington region has actually been pretty successful in securing big money for big infrastructure projects — the Silver and Purple Lines come to mind immediately, as does the Blue Line extension, which was completed just after the “original system” was finished. Whether the Pink Line proposed here should be the top priority for the region is a discussion worth having, but dismissing it because it would cost “too” much is unreasonable considering recent history. Politicians from the region have been good at securing the money for billion-dollar transit expansion projects, and it seems likely that major Metro extensions will be funded in the future.