Hundreds of years ago, people could fish and swim in the Anacostia River without worry, but over time it became so polluted that the prospect of swimming or eating anything from it became absurd. The work of local governments and nonprofits, however, has catapulted this idea out from the absurd straight back into the realms of possibility.
While some of us can’t imagine living without Metro, at one point in time not all that long ago it was brand new. This 1976 promotional video, via PlanItMetro, shows the system’s earliest days:
Beginning with Tulsa, Oklahoma’s program that launched in 2007, more than 60 US cities now have bikeshare systems, according to data from the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). The US hit 100 million bikeshare rides in 2017. (Alissa Walker / Curbed)
A driver struck and killed Korey Nicholas Aldrich, 34, of Haymarket on Linton Hall Road near Gainesville in Prince William County on Tuesday. (Martin Weil / Post)
A four-year-old student who attended an after-school program at Rocketship Legacy Prep was struck and seriously injured by a driver on Massachusetts Avenue SE near Fort Davis Park. The child was leaving the program with their mother at the time of the crash. (Martin Weil / Post)
Arlington county is installing four “transit stations” along Columbia Pike, which have larger shelters, better lighting, more seating, and real-time transit information. The county will pay $1.6 million to install the first four stations, and plans to add 19 more. (Kalina Newman / ARL Now)
Opponents of the federal regulations from 1910 that cap the height of buildings to 90, 130, or 160 feet in different parts of DC say the Act unnecessarily constrains housing and squeezes prices. Those in support say that repealing it won’t fix the city’s housing market, but will ruin the skyline. (Martin Austermuhle / WAMU)
At a Rockville town hall over the weekend, county residents told personal anecdotes about street safety and asked for better enforcement, more education, and faster action on Vision Zero plans. The town hall came at the end of a week where two pedestrians were killed and one was injured by drivers in the county, bringing traffic deaths to 14 in 2019. (Julie Rasicot / Bethesda Beat. Tip: Chester B.)
The federal government temporarily stopped the review process for the high speed rail project’s environmental impact statement so that the company behind it, Northeast Maglev, can gather and present more information on the design. (Luz Lazo / Post)
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson says that in 2020 the Council will vote on a bill that he had introduced last year which would break DCRA into two agencies: one for code enforcement, and one for licensing and consumer protections. (Cuneyt Dil / DC Line)
Virginia is still finalizing a plan that would allocate some I-66 toll funding for rail projects, like the plan to add a second Long Bridge track for Amtrak and VRE trains, and the long-term proposal to build a new Rosslyn station for Metro. (Max Smith / WTOP)
