Re: RDU light rail program likely dead


*** Boyd wrote:
> This is a tricky one. How much of the 106 mile WMATA metrorail is
> actually in Virginia and what is the relative cost per mile. Most of
> METRO is above ground in Virginia. How much of the METRO cost is
> "fluff"? Tunnels so far below the surface that riding the escalators
> takes as much time as riding the train? Does METRO really serve the
> region?

The only really deep stations tend to be on the Red Line in Upper
Northwest and Maryland. Forest Glen and Wheaton are the deepest in
the system (forest glen is too deep for escalators), with the stations
between DuPont Circle and Medical Center being almost as deep.

>
> The question is did Virginia really get any benefit from METRO? If the
> money had not been spent on METRO, where would it have been spent? If
> it went to transportation, where would it have gone?
>

Forget about Arlington for a second. If Metro only served people
working in Washington DC, then Metro serves Virginia by allowing people
who work in the District to live in Virginia, and have an easy commute
downtown. By having these people live in Virginia, the Commonwealth
gets the income taxes, the sales taxes, the property taxes, etc.
Considering how many jam-packed rush hour trains i've been on heading
under or over the potomac, I'd say that Metro carries a lot of people
who would otherwise not be able to be accomodated on the limited number
of bridges that exist.

Now lets bring Arlington into the picture. Arlington is hailed as a
huge Smart Growth success, due to the fact that Metro was built
underneath it. All of that growth, all of those skyscrapers in
Ballston and Rosslyn, all of that happened because of Metro. Maybe
some of the reason is because metro allows masses of people to get to a
small, confined area, and maybe some of the reason is because Metro
provided the political will to change that part of Arlington, but
nonetheless, Metro was the catalyst for all of that development. And
Metro does get used throughout the day by commuters, and people heading
into the district from Arlington, and even people just trying to get
from one side of Arlington to the other. Now being that this
development essentially "brought the city to the suburbs", and this
growth probably otherwise would have happened in the District, one can
definitely say that it is beneficial to Virginia, and that Metro is
beneficial to Virginia.

> Woodrow Wilson Bridge? How many jurisdictions are involved? Yes, the
> bridge does serve Virginia, but what was the intent? Serve Virginia
> alone or serve through traffic?

Serve mainly Virginia - Maryland traffic, some of it local (70%
according to Scott), some of it regional (Fredericksburg to Baltimore
is hardly local, but is still Virginia to Maryland traffic). I'd bet
that 95% of traffic on that bridge either has an origin/destination
somewhere in Maryland or Virginia, but thats just a guess.

>
> CTB has published a budget, but it is difficult to trace the source of
> the money and the places where the money will be spent. From what is
> available to researchers, less than half the transportation-earmarked
> taxes find their way back to northern Virginia. For one, there aren't
> that many lane miles in comparison to the rest of the state. For
> another, there are few other places in the state that have the economic
> engine. Northern Virginia is where the money is and the roads ain't.
> Expensive roads, but not many.

Equity. People in Lee County will feel "left out" if all of the money
headed up to NOVA and money was dished out by population only. However
people here are unhappy that NCDOT division 5 (Raleigh/Durham) has to
get the same amount of money as Division 14 (I think Hendersonville is
the largest city), because geographic equity is state law. The debate
over political entities vs. population is hardly a new one...in fact
the founding fathers debated this when trying to figure out
representation in congress. The compromise was that one half would be
represented by population, and the other half equal representation by
state. Perhaps the same should hold true for DOT money. Each
County/City/Town/DOT district, or however they have it divided up gets
a certain amount. The remaining funds are distributed based on where
population is (NOVA, Hampton Roads, Richmond). To an extent, this is
how the federal pot is distributed, with each state getting a guarantee
that X% of their gas taxes will come back to the state.

.