Happy 50th birthday Beltway!

The Beltway had a birthday this weekend!  Its final leg was completed 50 years ago, on August 17th, 1964.  If it were a human, it would be middle aged.  And, though it has its youthful moments (I'm looking at you aggressive drivers), it moves more like a 50 year old than an 18 year old.  

In fact, those drivers who never met a bumper they didn't want to twerk aside, the biggest annoyance driving the beltway is the inability to get anywhere near the speed limit.

Although I avoid the beltway like the plague, I can't escape using it on occasion.  So I worry about how the metro area will deal with the Beltway's senior years (I'm sure AARP has already extended a membership offer).  Two challenges are especially apparent.  

1. It needs serious repair work, especially in Maryland.  Things aren't perfect on the Virginia side, but the road is in better condition there because the state was forced to make substantial improvements when it re-engineered the infamous mixing bowl, where the Beltway meets Interstates 395 and 95.  It also made repairs when it installed the so called Rich-People-Get-To-Drive-Faster-than-You-and-Me-LanesHot Lanes.  Virginia also has less mileage to maintain than Maryland.  Only 22.1 of the Beltway's 63.8 miles (35%) are located in Virginia.  The remaining 41.7 miles (65%) are in Maryland.  Right now, there's no big plan to make the substantial repairs that are needed, so gird yourself for crappier road conditions, and deterioration over time.   

2.  Getting people off the beltway.    Everyone agrees the beltway needs to regain some of its efficiency at moving people around the metro area.  But, new lanes alone won't take care of the problem.  The metro area is growing too fast for that.  At most, new lanes would slow the growth of congestion down.  So, the real goal for transportation planners is to find a way to get people into buses, metro trains, and other forms of public transportation.

Unfortunately, public transportation isn't very good for people who live in the suburbs and want to get to another suburban location.  That's why the beltway is so clogged.  Our public transportation is still based on the hub spoke model where going from suburb to city is easy but going from suburb to suburb is either impossible, or requires a circuitious route through the city.

The Purple Line will help, but it won't be enough.  Only when transportation funding keeps up with the growth will any real relief happen.  And, there doesn't seem to be much political will, or forthcoming dollars, to make that happen.

All you have to do is look at the new plan for redevelopment in White Oak, an area north of the beltway on the eastern edge of Montgomery County.  The area is in desperate need of redevelopment, but the county is going to allow a 'set aside' so development can go ahead without the usual requirement that transportation upgrades occur simultaneously.   

Can I work from home please?

DC's new transportation plan: Green elitism?

Yesterday's Washington Post had an interesting article about the DC Department of Transportation's long range transportation plan.  Unfortunately, like a lot of green initiatives, it is fairly elitist.   

First, let's start with what the plan proposes.  There are new features like water taxis and streetcars as well as improvements to the existing metro and bus system.  Bikers will also get a boost with more paved road reserved for bikes lanes.  There's even a plan to charge commuters a toll to drive into the city. The goal is to make DC greener by forcinggetting people out of their cars.

So, why is this plan elitist?  Three interconnected reasons.  The first is that the plan doesn't take into account the changing distribution of the region's working class and poor populations.  DC's Poor and working class population used to live (primarily) in inner city areas.  They often faced disinvestment and high crime, but there was one benefit to their location--proximity to public transportation.  As DC has gentrified, many of these people have been pushed into the suburbs, or even exurbs.

Second, public transportation becomes less available and efficient the further you move from the city.  There are fewer bus lines and wait times between buses can be more than half an hour.  Likewise, metro stations tend to be located further apart in the suburbs, and the hub and spoke nature of DC's system means that it is often difficult to move from one suburb to another without routing through the city first.  These difficulties are compounded for poor and working class people who also have to find a way to get to their nearest metro stop.  Most can't afford to live within walking distance of a station because rents/home prices tend to be higher near them.  This means that car dependency is not just a choice (as it is often presented) but an unavoidable fact of life for many people at the bottom half of the income spectrum.

Third, if you charge people to drive into DC, you are essentially instituting a regressive tax.  That is, the people who cannot afford to live in the city or near a suburban metro stop will be the ones who have to pay it.  Some will pay it because they have no choice.  But, others, especially those at the bottom of the scale may simply avoid the city altogether--not because they want to but because they can't afford the cost or time it would take to enter it via public transit.     

There's nothing wrong with making it easier to move around DC without a car, but unless and until public transportation in the entire DMV is improved, the city should stick with carrots and leave the sticks behind.  Otherwise, DC's green will come with a side of exclusion.