When The O'Jays sang their hit song, "For the Love of Money" they probably had no idea that their music would be used as an allegory for the Washington region's transportation issues. But here we are. Money is at the center of this week's posts, from multi-million-dollar super streets, to multi-billion-dollar bridge widening projects. We have people fighting for more moolah for transit, and a look at how incomes have transformed the region in the last 40 years. It's heavy. But just imagine Eddie Levert singing the words, and you'll make it through.
By Wyatt Gordon (Virginia Correspondent) • November 11, 2019
Recently, Richmond has garnered a reputation as something of a transit wunderkind thanks to its bus route redesign, award-winning Pulse Bus Rapid Transit, subsequent 17% growth in ridership, and the dynamic new CEO at the helm of the Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC). Meanwhile, Chesterfield County—the locality to the city’s south that owns the other half of GRTC—is busting its budget to double down on car culture.
By David Alpert (Executive Director) • November 12, 2019
The states of Maryland and Virginia announced an agreement Tuesday to build and widen the American Legion Bridge, which carries the Beltway between Fairfax and Montgomery counties. Should urbanists be pleased about fixing a major traffic problem without building an Outer Beltway, or frustrated that states which don’t have money for transit suddenly seem to have billions of dollars for this mega-project?
Although the spatial distribution of wealth in the Washington region has remained relatively constant over the past 40 years, with the richest neighborhoods stretching to the northwest on both banks of the Potomac and the poorest neighborhoods inside the Beltway east of 16th Street NW, the number of very rich and very poor neighborhoods has increased.
By Alex Holt (Maryland Correspondent) • November 12, 2019
Over the past few months, the Maryland Department of Transportation has garnered plenty of criticism for the lack of funding it’s given the Maryland Transit Administration in this year’s annual budget. State and local lawmakers and transportation advocacy groups have been particularly vocal about the matter, but much of Maryland’s business community isn’t happy with the state’s current level of transit spending, either.
