Road Removal
Ah, Klingle Road; a little slice of road that was so fragile it was washed out by a storm back in 1991. At the time the District of Columbia was so broke it didn't have the money to repair or replace it and so it sat and sat and sat. Grass grew in and around it. Fire engines that would normally use the road figured out other ways to get between Woodley Road and Rock Creek Park. The homeless discovered its quiet serenity as did many of the homeowners whose homes backed up to what they began to think of as parkland. These homeowners got several environmental groups involved in the cause of saving this national treasure.
The other day the D.C. City Council voted to turn this area into a hiker/biker trail, thereby killing any hopes that Klingle Road would find its way back onto ADC's maps. Commuters have not had it available to them for so long that it isn't even viable as an option. Klingle Road is officially dead. Now it's up to somebody to go in there with several large dogs and clean out all of the homeless waste and the needles and condoms. Closing Klingle Road probably just put several thousand dollars into the pockets of several of the homeowners in the area who can now advertise the rolling parkland just steps from their homes. Ah, the power of the dollar.
Speaking of money and road closures it should be noted that a year or so ago District Mayor Fenty put an end to a study that was to analyze tearing down the Whitehurst Freeway. This is the road that comes off of K Street and connects with Canal Road on the west side of the Key Bridge. It is the only viable route to get traffic out of the West End of the city. The problem was that several people bought fancy condominiums in Georgetown and though they could have a better view of the Potomac (read: property values and "GREAT RIVER VIEWS") if only that pesky road was taken down. Council Member Jack Evans bought into it and set the wheels in motion. The last mayor probably had other things on his mind and let it go forward. Fenty though realized that there would be nowhere for all that traffic to go; certainly M Street through Georgetown wouldn't be able to handle it and neither could the side streets through the neighborhoods.
Taking a road out of the mix is usually not a good idea. In the case of Klingle Road it probably won't do any harm if for no other reason than it's been out of commission for 17 years. In the case of the Whitehurst Freeway it would have been a disaster.
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On a somewhat related point: the Outer Loop span of the new Wilson Bridge was dedicated this week. This is the second ceremony to celebrate this section of highway and it's been treated like it was the placement of the last brick in the Great Wall of China. It's not; it's just a bridge. Can someone please tell me why this isn't being paid for by tolls? It's as much a part of the daily commute as the McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore or the George Washington Bridge in New York and yet billions of dollars in local and federal money went to pay for it. Are those in Virginia nervous that truckers would use the west side of the beltway as a way to avoid the toll? Has that been the experience in Baltimore where an option to paying for the toll has been to ride the beltway? I may be beating a dead horse here but it's not the first time I've mentioned that tolls would help pay for this beast and for the maintenance that is sure to be required.
Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.
I like Amtrak. In fact I prefer to take it over the plane or driving when I go to New York City. It takes less time than either of these two modes and it is even more comfortable. Think about it: if you have to catch a plane (a "shuttle") to New York you have to arrive an hour before your flight. Of course you have to get to the airport first and, if you made the mistake of driving yourself, will have to find parking. Depending on your wallet and the type of parking lot you select you might have to wait for a bus to take you to the terminal. That might add another 20 minutes or so. Assuming that there is no delay in your departure you can now wing your way north. Of course the person who took the train is probably on the other side of Philadelphia by now.
More and more of us carry a cell phone and more and more those cell phones are doing more than just making phone calls. In Chicago, city parking officials are testing a system that allows drivers to use their cell phones to pay for parking. A special meter is installed on the dashboard and the zone and parking value is displayed in such a way that enforcement personnel can see it. The beauty of this system is that value can be added to the on-dash meter remotely. For example, if you are shopping and realize that your meter is about to expire, all you have to do is dial into the system and add 30 minutes or an hour to the meter. It's a program that's been used for some time in Europe, along with the ability to pay for rides on buses and trains just by waving the phone over a sensor.
Just the other day it was revealed that Metro was having problems with its hybrid buses, buses that run on a combination of an internal combustion engine powered by diesel fuel and an electric-powered motor that powers the vehicle from time to time and saves on fuel costs. These hybrids that Metro bought are breaking down about twice as often as its compressed natural gas buses and that's a bad thing. Even still, Metro officials tell WTOP, the hybrids they bought are still outperforming the national average.
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters was the person who ultimately signed off on the change of federal policy when it came to the Dulles Rail Project. That means that for many in the Washington region she is the biggest transportation hero we've got. For those who are into hero worship you can now read Secretary Peter's words on her own blog. It's kind of interesting to read her take on Dulles Rail and on things like the proposed gas tax holiday and high occupancy toll or HOT lanes.
There was always that one act at the circus where the clown (I love that commercial on television where the little kid in the high chair talks about making enough money in the market to hire a clown but then says he underestimated the creepiness) spins the plates on top of the sticks until he or she has half a dozen or more going at once. It's an incredible feat that usually ends with the plates crashing to the floor and the clown scurrying away on a miniature bicycle. When it comes to transportation, achieving a balance seems a lot more difficult, if not a lot more serious, and there are a couple examples.
I have not been a fan of the Dulles Rail Project pretty much since its inception. The whole thing had the stench of political posturing and manipulation that made many of the elements and projections questionable. For example, the ridership projections used for the Environmental Impact Studies were thought by many experts to be overly optimistic. That meant that the impact on the volume of traffic was equally high. Oh yeah, the cost of the project was locked at $2.8 billion and there was no way, according to so many advocates, that it would go higher. Of course, the figure of $5 billion is now used as if nothing had changed. 
Several years ago the supposed answer to many of our problems was to develop fuel from alternative sources. How miraculous would it be to take something like corn or even soybeans and turn it into a new gasoline. Every six months a whole new crop would sprout from the ground. Goodbye OPEC and hello American farmer, suddenly made whole after years of neglect and limited markets.