Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) is talking up extending the Orange Line out 66 to Gainesville, WTOP is reporting.
We used to live out 66 and agree that it is certainly the region's most clogged and heinous thoroughfare, but when the congressman says "We've already got most of the right of way, it would be a surface system," we have to wonder how serious he is. If memory serves, there is not median down the middle of 66 past 123.
We'd be curious to know more about what he has in mind, and we agree that something should be done to improve travel along that corridor.
We also wonder about the timing of such a proposal given the money just shelled out for the Dulles Extension.
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3 comments:
Should have been done a long time ago. Don't know how you fix 66 now.
A rail line to Gainesville makes sense, but I don't think it makes sense for that line to be Metro. Metro is sort of a hybrid between a traditional subway (like New York's) and commuter rail, but the size, weight, and operating speed of the cars is more like a subway. Gainesville to downtown would be about 36 miles, which is an awfully long distance to ride on a metro car. How long would the ride be? Probably an hour and half, at least, given how long it currently takes to get to Vienna. The best solution would be a new commuter rail line, like VRE, but with frequent trains at rush hour and decent levels of service all day long. People riding that far should have bigger, heavier cars, with lots of seating (does anyone want to stand all the way to Gainesville?), that operate at high speeds. And simply extending the Orange Line would just add to the overcrowding on that line. So I guess what I am really proposing is, "unsuck VRE."
Its High time they extend the metro atleast till centreville and provide some relief to thousands of motorists stuck on I-66 weekend or weekday trying to get to I-50W towards chantilly. Its better they use some of the stimulus money to extend the metro to Stringfellow park and ride. Before all the money is gone lobbying for underground or overground in tysons.
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