johnhenrehan's Blog

There was a "discussion item", today, at the WMATA board meeting:  coping with the predicted over-capacity crunch coming in either 2020 or 2030 (depending on how many rail cars are purchased).

Even if every single rush hour train is an eight-car train, by 2030, some riders will not be able to board the first train into the station.

One of the solutions:  build a NEW LINE from Rosslyn, Va. thru Georgetown into downtown D.C. (mostly along M Street).  The new line would have a separate crossing under or over the Potomac River.  It would draw passengers off the lines in the congested central core of the city.

Minimum cost:  200 (m) million dollars a mile!  Several board members all but said, "This ain't happening."  A far less costly alternative that was also discussed:  converting some lanes on roadways to dedicated bus lanes. 

The theory is:  get buses rolling faster than traffic, and more people will leave their cars at home.

As most of us know, the federal government has expressed great skepticism about helping fund an extension of Metro to Dulles Airport.

I thought the project was dead.  Two things from today.  An off-the-record conversation with a knowledgeable source (which I cannot even report here) has led to a five dollar bet.  I bet against the project getting federal money.  My source bet in favor.

Very late this afternoon, the U.S. Sec. of Transportation released a short statement promising to consider the needs of regional drivers in the forthcoming decision.  Hmmm.

My prediction:  the feds will cough up some money, but it will be far less than the 900 million being requested by Virginia.  Look for a decision by the end of the month.

I observed the funniest bumper sticker that I've enountered in years, this week, in NW Washington:

"Cheney-Satan '08"

The D.C. "Pace Car" program that we covered on Wednesday's 5:00 p.m. news -- you can see the story on the web, if you missed it on television -- actually was sponsored by the Washington Area Bicyclists Association.  They got a $10,000 federal grant to seed the program in Ward Three.  (The group has existing bicycle safety training courses in schools, there.)

They sent flyers home with D.C. public school children.  That's how they got the first 400 motorists to sign up to be "pace car" drivers.  An impressive number in only two weeks.

They want the idea to eventually spread city-wide (and region-wide).

On Tuesday I covered the continuing search for the hit-and-run driver that killed six-year old Crysta Spencer in Northeast Washington.  Unfortunately, Crysta ran out onto Sixth St. from between parked cars. 

I have two children, and although I talked to them until I was blue in the face about the danger of running into the street, they sometimes did it anyway.  My son often did it -- especially when his soccer ball would roll off the front lawn.  Boom, he'd be running right after the ball, usually without looking for traffic.    

I tried lecturing, I tried screaming, I tried everything.  Still, he would chase balls into the street.

He's 12 now, and he's stopped doing it.  I think. 

SLOW DOWN, everybody.  Kids just don't understand the danger of a moving car.