Anathema- Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 8 hours ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: "Why can't the GOP win statewide elections in Virginia anymore?!?!?" The PWC GOP HQ is just up the road, I've been meaning to take a picture for a while but I only ever drive by. "Dump" doesn't even begin to describe it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted May 8, 2021 Author Share Posted May 8, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 32 minutes ago, Jason said: Lmao. Please do it Amanda it's not like the GOP has a chance here anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted May 9, 2021 Author Share Posted May 9, 2021 lol this is some real smooth brained shit, Quantico already has a VRE station, beefing up VRE service is the painfully obvious correct choice here and Quantico is way too fucking far away to be on Metrorail regardless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 9, 2021 Share Posted May 9, 2021 2 minutes ago, Jason said: lol this is some real smooth brained shit, Quantico already has a VRE station, beefing up VRE service is the painfully obvious correct choice here. Plus metro service, not suburban VRE, should be focused in the metro core not out in Quantico or further Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted May 9, 2021 Author Share Posted May 9, 2021 13 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: Plus metro service, not suburban VRE, should be focused in the metro core not out in Quantico or further Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 9, 2021 Share Posted May 9, 2021 The proposed blue line expansion would connect people to the walkable areas of the town. It's not just extending it to Quantico it's looping out from the Woodbridge train station out to the mall and Stonebridge plaza (where the area hospital is). We have busses. More would be nice but it's not the same. Nobody's taking their family to the mall on a bus. Also there has been a lot of multi family homes built. A huge set of apartments just got built within walking distance of the station. Maybe ask someone who lives here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 9, 2021 Share Posted May 9, 2021 That's not even to mention the traffic reduction it would cause as fewer people will have to travel to Springfield to get on the metro for events like sports and concerts. Expanded VRE and intracity busses ain't gonna do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 Unless there's some development not in Google maps, and assuming the blue line follows the right of way that continues from the Springfield Franconia station, there's nothing along that line in PWC that is remotely dense enough to justify a metro extension barring a planned development centered on a station. Tbh, everything after King Street Old Town on the blue line is not a good use of transit, as it reinforces the current land use paradigm of auto dependency. Hell, even to the immediate west of that station is bad planning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 2 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: Unless there's some development not in Google maps, and assuming the blue line follows the right of way that continues from the Springfield Franconia station, there's nothing along that line in PWC that is remotely dense enough to justify a metro extension barring a planned development centered on a station. Ft. Belvoir hospital is the new Walter Reed and that's come up in the past ten years or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 3 hours ago, Anathema- said: The proposed blue line expansion would connect people to the walkable areas of the town. It's not just extending it to Quantico it's looping out from the Woodbridge train station out to the mall and Stonebridge plaza (where the area hospital is). We have busses. More would be nice but it's not the same. Nobody's taking their family to the mall on a bus. Also there has been a lot of multi family homes built. A huge set of apartments just got built within walking distance of the station. Maybe ask someone who lives here. You do remember that I used to live in DC, right (as does Gordon Chaffin)? Running Metro out to a suburban mall is dumb. Running Metro out into these areas without any commitment to having TOD around the new stations is dumb. Beefing up VRE service and allowing TOD around the VRE stations just makes way more sense overall. And even if this somehow was actually a good idea in principle, we're talking about fucking WMATA, the most dysfunctional major transit organization in the country. 3 hours ago, Anathema- said: That's not even to mention the traffic reduction it would cause as fewer people will have to travel to Springfield to get on the metro for events like sports and concerts. Expanded VRE and intracity busses ain't gonna do that. First WMATA would need to actually boost service for Nationals games. But this is also not a good example because VRE already has connections to Metro at L'Enfant and Union Station, but most of the trains are only in the peak rush hour direction, and there's no midday or weekend service. Why spend billions duplicating what already exists when you could just run more trains on what already exists? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 11 minutes ago, Anathema- said: Ft. Belvoir hospital is the new Walter Reed and that's come up in the past ten years or so. The development around that area is nowhere near dense enough for a metro stop unless there are plans for low/no car development that I'm not aware of. It's entire design is single family homes, separation of uses, and auto dependency. Transit stops/lines should serve more than one purpose. There needs to be significant housing and jobs and entertainment (aka make it city like, not suburban) otherwise it's a waste of money, which unless there's something planning I don't know about this would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 9 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: The development around that area is nowhere near dense enough for a metro stop unless there are plans for low/no car development that I'm not aware of. It's entire design is single family homes, separation of uses, and auto dependency. Transit stops/lines should serve more than one purpose. There needs to be significant housing and jobs and entertainment (aka make it city like, not suburban) otherwise it's a waste of money, which unless there's something planning I don't know about this would be. Even if you could get the densities up it'd probably still make more sense to turn VRE and MARC into RER-like services than to extend Metrorail out that far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 1 minute ago, Jason said: Even if you could get the densities up it'd probably still make more sense to turn VRE and MARC into RER-like services than to extend Metrorail out that far. If we're gonna extend metrorail, have them start doing land speculation and watch the money roll in but no one wants to talk about that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 4 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: If we're gonna extend metrorail, have them start doing land speculation and watch the money roll in but no one wants to talk about that I mean even more fundamentally than that I don't understand why people are so eager to extend Metrorail while both WMATA management and their primary union are just unmitigated dumpster fires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 Like, let's get WMATA to a point where it can handle what it already has before we started throwing tons of new service requirements at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 RPV is insane, full of insane people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 The development of all areas that are in the commuting zone for DC are seeing or have had major improvements over the past twenty years but there has been a ton in just the past few. Most of it has been with an eye towards reducing congestion but making areas walkable is another goal. The proposed line cuts through the denser parts of the town and major shopping districts as well. It reduces overall car traffic on 95. It meets the needs of the people who live here, I don't know what else to tell you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 The mall you're talking about is a bog-standard suburban sea-of-parking mall. The hospital could run a shuttle from the VRE station the way a bunch of companies run shuttles from the Pentagon if the VRE service were beefed up, it's a ten minute drive from the VRE station according to Google Maps. But absolutely nothing here justifies a Metrorail station, even if it's less bad than it used to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 Like seriously just lol, this is what greets you getting off the VRE there. Just upzone the walkshed of the VRE and run the trains more often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 Thank you for your expertise of the place that I live in and you don't. Not sure what I'd do without you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 FYI the blue line expansion goes up the parkway and not straight out from the station. That has a ton of townhomes and apartments just up that road and a huge apartment complex that's planned just a block away. It has a large amount of the shops that surround the mall which see a ton of traffic even if the mall isn't quite as busy. Then it goes back down and meets route one past more townhomes, apartments, shopping and other businesses. Not too far from a community College campus either. But sure that totally doesn't mean anything when you can just use a screen grab from google maps. You got me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 17 minutes ago, Anathema- said: FYI the blue line expansion goes up the parkway and not straight out from the station. That has a ton of townhomes and apartments just up that road and a huge apartment complex that's planned just a block away. It has a large amount of the shops that surround the mall which see a ton of traffic even if the mall isn't quite as busy. Then it goes back down and meets route one past more townhomes, apartments, shopping and other businesses. Not too far from a community College campus either. But sure that totally doesn't mean anything when you can just use a screen grab from google maps. You got me. Is there even a study or proposal out there that isn't just conjecture? I can't find anything on the Google Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 3 hours ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: Is there even a study or proposal out there that isn't just conjecture? I can't find anything on the Google http://drpt.virginia.gov/media/3395/drpt_springfield-quantico-publicmeeting_may2021_final.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 For the literally tens of billions of dollars (roughly, based on the silver line costs) the blue line extension shown on page 37 would cost, you could seriously boost vre, fix the core stations in Downtown Washington (which apparently needs to happen anyway), and have multitudes of the highest quality brt feeders that would be necessary for a truly successful suburban transit system. This is unless zoning and road changes are made within a mile or so of each proposed station to allow far greater density and make it more urban rather than suburban with rail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 It's already happening even without the expansion. This area is walkable to the train station. https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/second-phase-of-rivergate-along-the-occoquan-river-to-begin/article_70ba98a2-a97b-11eb-8fd8-9faf629062ce.html FWIW I think I would rather see the yellow line expanded, I think it makes more sense for the transportation needs of the region. Metro stops all up rt. 1 would be better than being able to skip to Springfield and Van Dorn St. without a car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 Walkable isn't quite the word I'd use. Being able to walk to something doesn't make it walkable. You still have to cross 6 lanes of high speed suburban traffic to get to the station. Not great! But yeah, the whole route 1 corridor needs some level of high quality transit but I'd sooner extend the BRT from Alexandria that gives the option to convert to heavy rail if the ridership and land use is there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 5 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: Walkable isn't quite the word I'd use. Being able to walk to something doesn't make it walkable. You still have to cross 6 lanes of high speed suburban traffic to get to the station. Not great! That apartment complex is on the same side of rt. 1. There's also a separate project that will make 123 an overpass to the train station side for vehicles and pedestrians. The apartments on that side are already complete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 Based on what I see on maps, Annapolis way is to the west of rt 1. An overpass for cars at that intersection is just stupid though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 5 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: Based on what I see on maps, Annapolis way is to the west of rt 1. You're right that's my mistake. I got my big yellow lines mixed up. That's not the intersection that's turning into an overpass anyway, it's the next one south. I'm pretty sure the one at Annapolis Way is being taken out completely and traffic funneled down to 123. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 39 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: Walkable isn't quite the word I'd use. Being able to walk to something doesn't make it walkable. You still have to cross 6 lanes of high speed suburban traffic to get to the station. Not great! But yeah, the whole route 1 corridor needs some level of high quality transit but I'd sooner extend the BRT from Alexandria that gives the option to convert to heavy rail if the ridership and land use is there. Like how with the Silver Line stations, you can technically walk places from the stations, but it's not a pleasant walk and the walkshed is wasted on parking lots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 That's because Herndon/Reston fucking sucks ass and so do all the city planners up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 1 hour ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: I see people assuming that this is good for Rs while ignoring Chase pumping herself up for a third party run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted May 11, 2021 Share Posted May 11, 2021 literally a blank slate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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