Washington DC

[palindrome]

The blob devoureth all streetwall in its path. Feed the blob and it shall ever expand.

I legit loled at this! ^


As for Tyson's corner, that is just a shame. The article makes it sound like the planners are making it even more suburban than it was before, rather than the dense village they set out for.

 

[Ron Newman]

Isn't Tyson's Corner getting a Metro subway extension, which will set it on the path to emulating its Arlington neighbors?

 

[czsz]

Without rezoning/reconfiguration, that means shit. It will be a glorified park and ride.

 

[jass]

Does this look like a BU building to anyone else?

 

[jass]

A quick look at the U street area. I probably should have taken more pictures but I always forget when Im with a friend. Some nice mixed in with some ugly.

 

[jass]

A lesson in why minimum parking space mandates fail:


---
The prediction seemed sound: A shopping mall dropped in the middle of Washington would deliver street-snarling traffic to an otherwise peaceful residential neighborhood.

The District's solution was to build a parking colossus, a $40 million taxpayer-funded garage beneath the Target-anchored mall in Columbia Heights. Yet, even as waves of shoppers come and go, the 1,000-space garage remains empty enough that the operator typically blocks off one of its two sprawling levels.

The District has lost nearly $2 million -- or $100,000 a month -- since the garage opened in March 2008, numbers that make Valerie Santos groan when she considers the city's decision to build the structure.

more at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/07/AR2009100703996.html


Note: According to the article, sales at the store are above expectations, so this isnt recession related.

 

[Shepard]

Today I'm in DC's convention area district... a decrepit sea of large-footprint dullness, generic hotels and restaurants, and mega parking lots (one in particular for tour buses looks like a crater hole among a forest of precast)... this area is in some strange borderland between Chinatown and the heart of real K Street downtown.

This morning my hotel wanted to charge $20 for breakfast... so I set out looking for a Dunkin. Sigh.

Maybe some time for pictures later... in any case, just wanted to say how similar this area looks to what the Seaport could become (Seaport minus the water view)... If there's anything to say positive about the Seaport and convention center's place in Boston, it's that maybe the BCEC helped assure that Back Bay wouldn't be totally and completely Sheratonized like any other generic convention district... whether it's here in DC, Anaheim, NYC, etc.

Maybe the standard "convention center district" model is impervious to change, but surely there's something better than this?

 

[jass]

Today I'm in DC's convention area district... a decrepit sea of large-footprint dullness, generic hotels and restaurants, and mega parking lots (one in particular for tour buses looks like a crater hole among a forest of precast)... this area is in some strange borderland between Chinatown and the heart of real K Street downtown.

This morning my hotel wanted to charge $20 for breakfast... so I set out looking for a Dunkin. Sigh.

Maybe some time for pictures later... in any case, just wanted to say how similar this area looks to what the Seaport could become (Seaport minus the water view)... If there's anything to say positive about the Seaport and convention center's place in Boston, it's that maybe the BCEC helped assure that Back Bay wouldn't be totally and completely Sheratonized like any other generic convention district... whether it's here in DC, Anaheim, NYC, etc.

Maybe the standard "convention center district" model is impervious to change, but surely there's something better than this?

Whats interesting about that area is if you walk 2 blocks west you're in the ghetto. Scary at night.

 

[jass]

DC announced yesterday that in 10 years they want to go from zero streetcar lines to 8.

# DDOT is planning 37 miles of service, in 8 lines.
# 7-10 years to construct the system.
# Three phases of planning/construction.
# Estimated cost: $1.5 billion (compared to $5.1 billion for the Silver line).

The 10 year countdown starts today.

Two lines are currently under construction and have been paid for, with the trains ready to roll (theyve been sitting around for 2 years)

Proposed map:

http://ddot.dc.gov/ddot/frames.asp?...ansit/streetcar/maps/map_futurealignments.pdf


Will this happen?

Meanwhile, how many shovels are at work on the green line extension here? Zero you say?

 

[czsz]

How!? Doesn't Congress allocate the funding for transit in DC? If anything I'd think this would be more difficult to achieve than funding from a "progressive" state like Massachusetts. Unless it's that DC's agency is run internally while Mass.' is run by statewide hacks. Or maybe there's just a comparative lack of vision / fear of change here by comparison. Sigh.

Every day, thanks to retrogressive planning, Boston looks more and more like the Sunbelt. The Greenway and Seaport are a case in point. And every day, cities like DC, and even many in the Sunbelt, are instituting progressive planning, proposing new tram lines and districts of apartment blocks. Sad.

 

[jass]

How!? Doesn't Congress allocate the funding for transit in DC? If anything I'd think this would be more difficult to achieve than funding from a "progressive" state like Massachusetts. Unless it's that DC's agency is run internally while Mass.' is run by statewide hacks. Or maybe there's just a comparative lack of vision / fear of change here by comparison. Sigh.

Every day, thanks to retrogressive planning, Boston looks more and more like the Sunbelt. The Greenway and Seaport are a case in point. And every day, cities like DC, and even many in the Sunbelt, are instituting progressive planning, proposing new tram lines and districts of apartment blocks. Sad.

I think it works like here. Costs are divided between local and fed (so most of the DC silver line will be paid by feds).

Now, does the "local" portion of the DC fund also come from feds? Perhaps. Im not sure.

The only issue Ive seen concerning congress is with the law that bans overhead wires in DC. The city wants congress to change it so overhead wires are allowed on streets that do not impact views of the mall and capital.

 

[jass]

This is.....strange

----
College Park residents and visitors are welcoming the city's new downtown parking garage as a boon for the long-parking-starved city.

The garage, located at the intersection of Knox Road and Yale Avenue, first opened to drivers on July 22 and a grand opening celebration was held Wednesday. City officials and business owners hope the extra spaces will attract more visitors to the downtown area.

"Parking garages are in many jurisdictions a prime economic development tool," said Mayor Stephen Brayman. "I think it incentivizes redeveloping in the area."

The 288-space, camera-monitored facility brings the city's total parking capacity to more than 900 spaces, an increase of nearly 50 percent. It also provides protection from weather and other cars that isn't afforded by many of the city's outdoor metered spaces.

...

The current rate to park in the garage is 75 cents per hour, the same as a city parking meter. The garage also provides $60 per-month permits to downtown-area employees. It also contains 5,800 square feet of yet-to-be-leased retail space on the ground floor.

The facility has been mostly empty on weekdays, with less than 25 spaces filled Monday afternoon, and city officials are taking the less-than-busy time to fix electrical or logistical problems that may arise. They expect much bigger crowds when students return to the University of Maryland, College Park, in late August.

"The main factor now is that school is out," Brayman said, adding that more people could come when the city begins advertising the garage along Route 1. "I'm quite confident that a lot of people will park in there [this fall]."

http://www.gazette.net/stories/08062009/collnew182814_32527.shtml



And yes, theres subway access to the area

And two months later:

" A two-month-old parking garage in downtown College Park continues to see little use, but city officials still expect usage to improve over time as motorists become more aware of the garage ? especially if the city were to raise the rates it charges at nearby surface parking lots.

The garage, which is across Knox Road from College Park City Hall, behind Cornerstone Grill and Loft, cost $9.3 million and has so far brought in $9,000 in revenue, according to city Finance Director Steve Groh. Not counting a few dozen cars with parking passes issued to city employees or on a monthly basis, only about 20 cars are paying to park at the 288-space garage at any given time, Groh said.

That estimate is the same as a month ago, when some officials had predicted a jump in usage after home football games, which Groh said did not occur."​

http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/at-city-lots-rate-jumps-possible-1.708719


See guys, idiot planners exist outside of Boston too!

 

[jass]

New streetcar tracks in DC.

Lets hope they get the ok to install overhead wiring, or this will be a very expensive mistake.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

If they don't install new traffic lights then those turning lanes are going to be trouble.

 

[czsz]

Are they planning to develop higher densities along those streets? Doesn't look like a natural candidate for rail transit to me.

 

[crash575]

Anyone know why it seems that new streetcar tracks are laid in concrete instead of asphalt? Is it just for the concrete's durability or is there another technical reason?

 

[jass]

Anyone know why it seems that new streetcar tracks are laid in concrete instead of asphalt? Is it just for the concrete's durability or is there another technical reason?

Ive seen them doing the same thing in LA.

Part of the reason is how easy it is to fix the tracks. Instead of digging up the asphalt, you just pull up the block of concrete with track and stick in a new one. Multi day repair project gets done in an hour.

Im sure durability is another factor. Every bus stop in DC is made of concrete. You can see that on the second picture, on the right.

Are they planning to develop higher densities along those streets? Doesn't look like a natural candidate for rail transit to me.

Not that I know of. This first line is more of a "we care about poor people too" project, as it's going into one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods (which metro does not serve)

 

[Shepard]

Stops will be on the left along the median?

 

[jass]

Stops will be on the left along the median?

 

[czsz]

...built through fields and yards. What a pork project. Streetcar to nowhere.