Too Many Construction Projects at One Time!!!!!! (Fairfax, Orange: hotels, cost)

[tysonsengineer]

Dolley Madison is Route 123, and you can't see the silver line from mclean until you cross the intersection with Great Falls and cross the equally ugly 267. If you ask me, the parking lots that exist along 123 associated with old 2 story crappy and cheap offices are far more of an eyesore.

Luckily, the silver line might look bad today, but with good landscaping, proper building scale, alot of the "concrete monstrosity" of it can be reduced. Elevated rail in and of itself is not ugly, hell to many King St is one of the prettiest stations in WMATA, and I have to agree, it was well integrated. Nothing leads me to believe that it will be impossible to do the same with Silver Line through Tysons.

If life could be redone, a lot of us would have tried to scream as loud as the idiots who would save 10% of the project cost at the risk of exponentially more money from the revenue that could have come of all that additional right of way they took, but it is what it is. The delay had already been 20 years and if that opportunity that came with shovel ready cash from feds was not jumped on then it would have been another 20 years until politics would stop obstructing it again (just look to Phase 2 to see how that can happen).

[saganista]

The tunnel under Tysons would have been nice, but it was not economically feasible at the time that it needed to be. The elevated tracks look worse today than what they ultimately will after the associated road and building and landscaping projects are completed. People who admire the Washington Monument today don't often think that it took 36 years to build, during most of which, it didn't look so hot.

[Joke Insurance]

Originally Posted by pgtitans

This madness in NoVA has to stop. I understand that there are projects that need to be completed, but it is ridiculous that every where you go, there is some type of construction going on. I mean in the past few weeks I've seen construction on I-95, I-495 near Alexandria and near Fairfax and now they are even doing work at night on Route 1 in Crystal City. Is it really necessary that all these of these projects have been be done at the exact same time? It's just make traffic worse and worse.

Just because you're able to complain on a internet forum doesn't mean that you should.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by Joke Insurance

Just because you're able to complain on a internet forum doesn't mean that you should.

It was meant to be a discussion not a formal complaint.

[The Dissenter]

It seems like every major interstate in the Upper Southeast and Ohio is under construction based on my travels between Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville, Charlotte, Knoxville and back to here over the last few weeks.

Going from Louisville to Charlotte: The Ohio River bridges project is starting so I-71, I-64, and I-65 were all under construction in Louisville, I-75 went down to one lane in parts of Tennessee, same thing with I-40 with one lane in parts from Knoxville to Asheville, I-26 had some construction.

Going from Louisville to NoVA via Ohio, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore: Parts of I-71 between Columbus and Cincy were down to one lane, I-70 from Columbus to Wheeling, WV down to one lane due to construction, BW Parkway one lane near New Carrollton thanks to construction.

Going from Louisville to NoVA via I-64 and I-81, construction on I-64 in Eastern KY, down to one lane AGAIN, major bridge on I-64 in Charleston, WV being worked on lane reduction, I-81 near Lexington, under construction land reduction, I-66 near the beltway under construction.

It ain't just here if you got all that.,

[tysonsengineer]

Shovel ready... took 2 years longer than expected (because most people dont really understand the engineering process and all the work that goes into infrastructure design) but its being constructed now. I still think there are too many road projects, not enough passenger and more importantly freight rail projects happening, but in this country when it comes to inter-city travel, the more options the better.

Now when you talk about intra-city, thats when I become a highway hater

I agree with your assessment Dissenter, all of the northeast and midwest are building because construction costs will never again be this inexpensive until the next recession (yes the Silver Line, despite the ramblings of Bob Bruhn, is extremely affordable compared to if we wait for the recession to end and have to pay for growth era construction crews).

[VAFan]

Originally Posted by The Dissenter

It seems like every major interstate in the Upper Southeast and Ohio is under construction based on my travels between Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville, Charlotte, Knoxville and back to here over the last few weeks.

Going from Louisville to Charlotte: The Ohio River bridges project is starting so I-71, I-64, and I-65 were all under construction in Louisville, I-75 went down to one lane in parts of Tennessee, same thing with I-40 with one lane in parts from Knoxville to Asheville, I-26 had some construction.

Going from Louisville to NoVA via Ohio, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore: Parts of I-71 between Columbus and Cincy were down to one lane, I-70 from Columbus to Wheeling, WV down to one lane due to construction, BW Parkway one lane near New Carrollton thanks to construction.

Going from Louisville to NoVA via I-64 and I-81, construction on I-64 in Eastern KY, down to one lane AGAIN, major bridge on I-64 in Charleston, WV being worked on lane reduction, I-81 near Lexington, under construction land reduction, I-66 near the beltway under construction.

It ain't just here if you got all that.,

Correct! DH and I traveled from VA to Illinois not long ago. There was not one state or city that we entered that didn't have road construction going on. Then we traveled to Louisville, KY from Illinois to visit other family members. Construction there too. Then returned back home a different route from KY to VA - more construction. It is not just NoVA.

[elias9193]

This is what happens when you procrastinate for too many years, these projects should have been done years ago, now we have to just suck it up and deal with it. The traffic in NoVa is stifling to say the least right now, you cant even travel on I95, especially on the weekends, its a nightmare! You have one major Interstate in Virginia going north-south that the whole east coast uses at all times, tell me thats not insane.

[saganista]

So, we should begin the War on Construction Delays by constructing a duplicate I-95?

[JD984]

Sounds like some want infrastructure projects and maintenance, but only if it occurs at a snail's pace and preferably with workers who toil from 10 PM to 6 AM?

Progress is being made - portions of 495 that looked like pictures of Baghdad just a couple of months ago look much better now. And Metro is coming ... at least to Tysons/Reston.