mass transit
So I've decided to obsess over mass transit instead of relationships. This is an improvement. Mainly.
Down in Arlington where my ex lives and where my daughters go to school, there was a project on the books to build a streetcar line within the next five years. When they planned the line, they did a bazillion studies. Basically they decided they could:
1) Do nothing and continue running buses down Columbia Pike. For whatever reason, though, it is believed that this strategy has reached capacity.
2) Build Bus Rapid Transit on Columbia Pike. It was decided that this would not work without dedicated lanes.
3) Build a streetcar.
4) Build an underground heavy rail system (an additional metro line). It was decided this was too expensive (it would cost several billion dollars).
So, they'd finished most of the concept and lined up funding to go the route of the third option, but then there was an election. 2 of 5 members on the county board were replaced with people who ran on a platform of "building a streetcar is wasteful." And two days ago, the board voted to pull the plug on the project.
At the end of the day, this isn't a project that affects me directly and I don't live in Arlington, so I don't really have a huge say, but I live not far from the terminus and my daughters live down there part of the time. I'm also fairly well invested in the concept of building more walkable communities and frankly getting people to change their lifestyles away from the "I must drive everywhere" mentality. People just seem happier if they aren't afraid of their neighbors, and if they sit in their car all day not only are they afraid of their neighbors but they are also angry at them for beating them to the next red light.
But the people in charge just seem to think that things should be like they were in 1975 rather than like they will be in 2025.
Down in Arlington where my ex lives and where my daughters go to school, there was a project on the books to build a streetcar line within the next five years. When they planned the line, they did a bazillion studies. Basically they decided they could:
1) Do nothing and continue running buses down Columbia Pike. For whatever reason, though, it is believed that this strategy has reached capacity.
2) Build Bus Rapid Transit on Columbia Pike. It was decided that this would not work without dedicated lanes.
3) Build a streetcar.
4) Build an underground heavy rail system (an additional metro line). It was decided this was too expensive (it would cost several billion dollars).
So, they'd finished most of the concept and lined up funding to go the route of the third option, but then there was an election. 2 of 5 members on the county board were replaced with people who ran on a platform of "building a streetcar is wasteful." And two days ago, the board voted to pull the plug on the project.
At the end of the day, this isn't a project that affects me directly and I don't live in Arlington, so I don't really have a huge say, but I live not far from the terminus and my daughters live down there part of the time. I'm also fairly well invested in the concept of building more walkable communities and frankly getting people to change their lifestyles away from the "I must drive everywhere" mentality. People just seem happier if they aren't afraid of their neighbors, and if they sit in their car all day not only are they afraid of their neighbors but they are also angry at them for beating them to the next red light.
But the people in charge just seem to think that things should be like they were in 1975 rather than like they will be in 2025.