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Maybe. But you're also forgetting some of the thrust of MD Department of Planning since the 1980's from MD2020 to Smart Growth through to PlanMD today and that is highway construction enables sprawl. Hence the incentives for infill construction and the current and proposed disincentives for rural growth. Something that is not a bad idea here in SoMD but is crippling far Western MD and the Eastern Shore.
Added to a lot of this is the sheer cost of gaining the rights of way for more highway construction. That is an immense cost just to start out before one shovel of dirt is turned. And look at the time frames for some of the proposed projects, you're talking 20 to 40 years in the future. The Thomas Johnson Bridge in Calvert County is on SHA's priority list, has been for several years, and they're talking 2025 for it.
The reality, also, is that the Highway Fund is depleted. Not because of projects but because projects have been put on hold while the fund is raided to pay for General Fund initiatives.
You are correct that building more highways/interstates/roads leads to more development, which causes sprawl, and will make traffic just as bad as it was. HOWEVER, I mentioned that what DC is increased public transportation. You cant rely on just public transportation, but any infrastructure improvements should primarily be public because public transportation does reduce commuting times.
So by expanding the metro, MARC, implementing street cars, buying more buses, etc in addition to some new highways/interstate traffic can be improved.
Traffic in DC proper and Arlington is fine though, I mean it's not horrible. So take this to NOVA forum.
Oh, yeah? When was the last time you tried driving in the Farragut Square area, on I or K Street, almost anytime on a weekday? Or on Constitution Ave between the National Mall and Memorial Bridge in the afternoon? Routine gridlock prevails much of every weekday, including lunch times.
Which bridges are creating the bottlenecks? So far I only know of 270N being a huge bottleneck at times (since it becomes 3 lanes).
For decades prior to its widening in 2008, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge was one of the worst bottlenecks in all the USA. Beltway traffic there remained routinely backed-up for 2 miles on either side, basically most of every day and early evening, waiting to merge into the narrower bridge. Woodrow Wilson Bridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .
Also, if quality jobs were evenly distributed all around the metro area, then people would not have to commute so far as they do. Basically nearly all the job growth in the past 60 years has occured either in central DC or in the north or west suburbs. The region has gotten very unbalanced/ polarized in that respect. Hardly any job growth in the south or east suburbs.
Furthermore, much of western and northwestern Fairfax County (Great Falls, Dranesville, Fairfax Station, Clifton areas) close to where the massive job growth has occurred, remains zoned very low-density, which forces developers to leapfrog further out to Loudoun County to build housing for Fairfax County's workers. To a lesser extent, it's the same way with low-density zoned northwest Montgomery County, which forces developers to go across the line into Frederick County MD to build housing for Montgomery's high-tech workers.
Last edited by slowlane3; 11-13-2011 at 02:50 PM..
You are correct that building more highways/interstates/roads leads to more development, which causes sprawl, and will make traffic just as bad as it was. HOWEVER, I mentioned that what DC is increased public transportation. You cant rely on just public transportation, but any infrastructure improvements should primarily be public because public transportation does reduce commuting times.
So by expanding the metro, MARC, implementing street cars, buying more buses, etc in addition to some new highways/interstate traffic can be improved.
Not if you stop it......You put the highways but prohibit development beyond a certain point. It seems like such a simple solution yet not done.
Look at Portland, OR from a aerial view, Google Maps
Not if you stop it......You put the highways but prohibit development beyond a certain point. It seems like such a simple solution yet not done.
Look at Portland, OR from a aerial view, Google Maps
You can see where the growth comes to an end.
How did they do that in Portland?
If the land is federal or state I can see how you could prohibit development. However, if it is personal property and the government said you are not allowed to develop it people are going to get very upset. That is going to go to the courts.
If the land is federal or state I can see how you could prohibit development. However, if it is personal property and the government said you are not allowed to develop it people are going to get very upset. That is going to go to the courts.
Personal property or not it would fall under zoning restrictions. It can be dicey but property can be downzoned as long as all use isn't taken away.
For example, let's say rural property is zoned Rural Commercial/Agricultural. What RC means is that you might be able to put up a strip mall (this will depend on the jurisdiction). The RC can be taken away and the land reverts to strictly Agricultural. Or an overlay zone could be created that mandates no more than one house per 50 acres. Or it could be in a water/sewer district where there are no plans to build central water/sewer and development of a housing subdivision is prohibited without access to central water and sewer. The last is what is outlined somewhat in the proposed PlanMD.
If the land is federal or state I can see how you could prohibit development. However, if it is personal property and the government said you are not allowed to develop it people are going to get very upset. That is going to go to the courts.
Portland uses a boundary where growth is only allowed on the inside with a regional government to oversee land use. Oregon bans development on farmland.
The reason people in VA are afraid to use Metro is because of the ongoing security (teens causing trouble) and safety problems (train crashes) on it.
The DC area is faced with three choices. If they don't do one of these things it will only get worse:
1) Fix Metro's problems so that people aren't afraid to use it.
2) Encourage suburb to suburb commuting by car or bus, taking Metro out of the picture.
3) Build the superhighway flyover above 16th Street.
People are being irrational about the metro. Sure there might be a wreck every year and a few people might die or get hurt. When you factor in how many people ride it, and how many trains are running the chances that you will get into an accident are so slow it ends up being much safer than driving.
Also, doesnt DC see what causes an accident and make changes accordingly?
Y'all are so focused on the commute, you are forgetting that 95 is the only real way to get from all points south to all points north on the entire eastern seaboard. We can't build a beltway that extends out into the freakin' ocean.
When those 'tourists' don't have the sense to drive thru DC in non-rush hours (and lets be real, there aren't a lot of those left) what a mess that is! It's like we're going on a bear hunt: We can't afford to fly over it, trains don't end up where we need to get to, so we have to drive thru or around it!
I live in Raleigh and my parents live in Springfield BELOW the beltway. Getting to their house is awful, and the metro can't help me! I can and do take the train, but then my elderly parents have to pick me up at the train station in Alex or the Metro in Springfield.
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