Posts by Canaan Merchant — Elections Committee
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Why monorail pods are not a serious solution for Columbia Pike
The designers of a monorail-like personal rapid transit (PRT) system hope to sell their technology to Arlington, to replace the cancelled Columbia Pike streetcar. It’s a terrible idea. Keep reading…
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Learn important concepts in designing buildings from an HBO series
HBO’s miniseries Show Me a Hero depicts a fight over affordable housing in Yonkers, New York in the 1980s. It raises many important issues about race relations and the reality of politics. It also teaches us something about architecture and how the design of buildings affects crime. Keep reading…
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Want a stress-free bike ride? In Arlington, there’s a map for that.
Arlington has a new map for cyclists that ranks streets by “comfort level.” It illustrates the places where even kids or senior citizens would feel safe biking, helping people to avoid busy or fast roads. It also gives policymakers a tool for making the county’s bike network even better. Keep reading…
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Check out Dublin’s bikeshare system, and compare it to ours
dublinbike, the biggest bikesharing system in Dublin, Ireland, opened in 2009, a year before Capital Bikeshare. Put side by side, the two make it easy to see how one transit system can learn from another. Keep reading…
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Seven Corners could become a transit hub
Preliminary plans are starting to come together in Northern Virginia to create a new transit station in Seven Corners. It could become a hub for improved transit lines along Virginia Route 7 and US Route 50. Keep reading…
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Building the Edinburgh streetcar wasn’t easy, but a lot of people ride it now
I recently took a trip to Scotland, where I rode on Edinburgh’s new streetcar. Much like DC, Edinburgh struggled to get its first line open, and scaled back initial plans. But now that streetcars are carrying passengers, Scots view it much more favorably. Keep reading…
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Virginia pressures Maryland to add Legion Bridge HOT lanes
Virginia transportation officials plan to recommend a new strategy to address travel between Maryland and Virginia: Pressure Maryland into extending Virginia’s Beltway HOT lanes across the American Legion Bridge, all the way to I-270. Keep reading…
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This statue salutes just how thrilling riding a bike can be
Last year, a new statue went up in the City of Fairfax that captures the essence of why people love to bike. Keep reading…
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Fears over parking are threatening a new bus service in Richmond
Richmond is getting a new bus rapid transit system, but one neighborhood group is against the project because it will mean some lost parking spaces. But the new line won’t even run through their neighborhood, and there’s plenty of parking in the city already. Keep reading…
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The wheels on the bus go… not to the right
The new Circulator route on the National Mall hit a snafu this week. Three buses blocked an intersection for over half an hour by not deviating from their routes even when a traffic collision made staying the course impossible. Keep reading…