The persistent myth that it just costs more to build train lines in the US than it does abroad is mostly bunk, a new analysis finds — but costs quickly balloon when we start building them underground, for reasons that researchers can’t yet fully explain.
By George Kevin Jordan (Managing Editor) • January 4, 2021
TransportationCamp DC 2021 goes virtual. Learn about how the Capital Region Rail Vision project impacts you. Discover how to reduce your carbon footprint this year, and more in this week’s urbanist virtual events.
DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton started the first day of the new Congress by reintroducing the bill that would make DC a state. Last year, it passed the House for the first time, and could do so again, but is likely to stall in the Senate. (Mikaela Lefrak and Jordan Pascale / DCist)
Construction timelines are never reliable, but eight major transportation projects could come to fruition in the coming year, including the Silver Line Phase II, airport concourses at National and BWI, and the 16th Street bus lanes. (Jordan Pascale / DCist)
DC has activated the National Guard in anticipation of far-right protests this week gathering to claim (falsely) that Donald Trump won the presidential election. Protests in November and December ended in violence, and the Proud Boys leader was arrested Monday for burning a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a historic Black church in DC last month. (Post, Post)
An updated Howard University campus plan, which goes before the Zoning Commission this month, includes a study that could spark a historic district application, indicating more than 70 buildings or sites of historical significance. (Nena Perry-Brown / UrbanTurf)
The latest tax assessments in Montgomery County, which covered Rockville and Gaithersburg, show a rise in property values of about 9.2% since the last assessment three years ago, a slightly higher rate than in Maryland as a whole. (Andrew Schotz / Bethesda Beat)
Fairfax County is seeking input on the long-term transit plan that will guide the future of the Fairfax Connector bus system. Virtual community input meetings are scheduled for next week. (InsideNoVa)
Coronavirus won’t kill the office, but it might change the office landscape and the way we commute, creating winners and losers along the way. (Dror Poleg / New York Times)
