Posts by Tracy Hadden Loh — Board of Directors
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A new bus line would give Rhode Island Avenue the transit it was meant to have
The G9, a new bus line that would run along Rhode Island Avenue from Mount Rainier into downtown, could become a reality if the DC Council decides to fund it this week. The G9 would give residents in the corridor a much-needed way to get downtown by transit, which their neighborhoods were built around in the first place. Keep reading…
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Going Dutch: Planners from the Netherlands make suggestions for bike lanes in DC
In late April, Dutch cycling experts met with DC area planners, engineers, and feds to look at cycling conditions in the West End neighborhood. They all teamed up to draft a plan that would build connections to trails and add new segments of on-street bikeways, all with the goal of creating a safe, easy-to-use cycling network. … Keep reading…
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Metro’s new bus prediction system is pretty accurate, but leave yourself some extra time
Metro recently swapped out its seven-year-old bus predictions system for a new one called BusETA. Last week, fourteen Greater Greater Washington contributors and staff audited BusETA for accuracy. Overall, the system performed well enough, but buses sometimes came earlier than predicted, and “ghost buses” are still real. Keep reading…
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When Metro closed, commuters took to the trails
When Metro closed on Wednesday, its 700,000 daily riders had to find a different way to get around. I compared data from Wednesday to the previous week to see how trail use changed. Keep reading…
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Can a new zoning code make Mt. Rainier inviting and affordable?
Long considered up and coming, Mount Rainier is a Prince George’s neighborhood just east of the District line that’s attracting investors and where house prices are rising. Typically, more zoning means higher housing costs, but Mount Rainier residents are trying to use zoning to keep their neighborhood inclusive and affordable. Is that possible? Keep reading…
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Should Congress be the ones to deliver more and better transportation infrastructure, or should we?
Now that the cromnibus crisis is crover, it’s not too soon to remember that the current federal surface transportation spending authorization is going to run out in six months. Before things get down to the wire, we should remind ourselves of why surface transportation finance has become such a messy issue. Keep reading…
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What is “contributory negligence,” and why is it such a big danger for cyclists and pedestrians?
Say you are riding along on your bicycle. Your tail light battery dies one evening, and then a texting driver crashes into you. Can you recover your medical costs from the driver? Or, say you are on foot and need to cross a street where the nearest crosswalks are far away. But then a drunk driver speeds by and hits you. Or, you’re biking and get doored. A police officer, confused… Keep reading…
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Construction companies are illegally blocking sidewalks. Let’s do something about it
Walking around DC is great, but walkers also encounter many spots where it is just not as safe to walk as it ought to be. A new group, All Walks DC, is organizing to promote pedestrian safety through legislation and better street design. One of the biggest problems today is construction zones. Keep reading…
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Why is the Highway Trust Fund going broke (and what can be done about it)?
You may have been hearing some doomsday reports in the media about the impending bankruptcy of the Highway Trust Fund. The US Department of Transportation has a ticker where you can watch the balance drop. What is happening, and why? What is the Highway Trust Fund? The Highway Trust Fund (HTF) is basically a bank account that was established by Congress in 1956 to pay for the… Keep reading…