|
The beginning of all of my UVA graduate planning classes included an open discussion of recent news discussions that related to planning. I would typically illustrate the areas where these stories would have impact on my aerial photograph of the Washington metropolitan region. I noted that there was a finite market and resources to support these projects. Recent articles in the Washington Post have addressed a composite of projects in our region that will be competing and may have counterproductive impacts. These include Alexandria’s effort to upgrade their waterfront to compete with the Washington Harbor project in Prince George’s County. This will also relate to the potential improvements that will accompany the development of a stadium for the Washington Nationals in the Anacostia area. All of these projects will be competing for the region’s tourist and entertainment market. Others that remain in my memory include the redevelopment of the Walter Reed site and the St. Elizabeth site. These opportunities will occur during a similar period where we are attempting to develop sufficient land-use intensity to justify the expansion of the metro system to the Dulles Corridor. This period also will include the realignment pressures that will be generated by the BRAC. A recent Post story described the impact this will have on the end of the route 1 corridor and the I95 system, a major thoroughfare for both Fairfax and Prince William counties.
Regional Rail
The June 19th copy of the Washington Post announced a Fairfax County commitment to the metro extension. The story’s sidebar failed to acknowledge the first publicly funded proposal to extend metro through Tysons into the Dulles corridor. The 1992 Tytran study entitled, The Future of Tysons, completed with UMPTA funds by a professional team lead by Patrick F. Kane. The supervisors found this commitment to be one of the most important decisions they have made in many years and will establish their legacy for their impact on the county. Their discussions indicated this would have a far reaching impact on the economic viability of the county.
The June 20th edition of the Washington Post announced Loudoun County Board of Supervisors agreed to support the metro extension and also discussed the positive benefit this will have on the economic viability of this burgeoning jurisdiction. Both elected boards were correct in their expectations however, the Washington Metropolitan region is the larger beneficiary of these votes. This section of the metro will function as the missing link to provide connectivity throughout the region. This will give metro mass transit access to a potential employee pool in the District, Maryland and elsewhere currently dependant on highway seeking to flow through a limited number of ways to cross barriers such as rivers and limited access highways.
This population with these employees will not need the Northern Virginia counties to provide workforce housing and related facilities for all employees. Regional connectivity will allow for balanced patterns of human settlement throughout the Washington Metropolitan area. The two jurisdictions voting to commit their own funds show their willingness to advance the quality of the region.
Although Fairfax County is concerned about the appearance and traffic problems related to an overhead system, these can be mitigated with creative and imaginative design, elevated pedestrian systems can be an asset and potentially revenue generating spaces. For this system to meet its potential, quality design will be essential at each contact point referred to as creative and imaginative TOD.
Completing this missing link will also have a far reaching impact on the environmental quality of the region and offer exurban residents another alternative to the highways to maintain connectivity to the region.
“Thank you local government.” We now support the regional planning approach. Do you understand the value of regional planning?
|
