Posts from May 2016
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FiveThirtyEight said Metro catches fire 4 times per week. Fortunately, that’s wrong.
On Thursday, FiveThirtyEight, a national blog popular for its analytical take on everything from Donald Trump to the NBA, published an article claiming that there were 85 fires on the Metrorail system— over four fires per week— between January 1st and last week. That claim is built on inaccurate data, and it overstates the actual risk of fire on Metro. Keep reading…
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15th Street’s protected bikeway is back!
It’s a Bike to Work Day miracle! For the last few months, demolition of the old Washington Post building has squeezed people on both bikes and foot into the same narrow space. But as of this morning, there’s both a protected bikeway and a sidewalk, meaning there’s a safe way for everyone to travel. Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Get with the plan
SafeTrack 2.0; Make way for the bus lane; Enough housing?; New Communities success; McMillan Park’s new park; Express extending; Toe tapping for affordable housing. Keep reading…
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Orange, Silver, and Blue riders: Pain is coming in just a month. DOTs: Get moving on bus and HOV lanes now.
Metro’s revised SafeTrack plan is out, and riders along the Orange, Blue, and Silver lines will be suffering much earlier than in the original plan. That may be necessary maintenance, but it’ll mean local officials have to move fast to find alternative ways to get people east and west. Keep reading…
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Timing signals to work for pedestrians is impossible
To make streets walkable, we need to re-think the basic principles of how people on foot and people in cars share the roadway. This is the third post in a multi-part opinion series. Walk signals are not only unsafe and inconvenient, they’re also incapable of making pedestrian travel efficient. Engineers simply don’t have the time or resources to correctly configure… Keep reading…
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Metro wants to know how you use the system
Have you noticed the orange flyers and collection boxes floating around Metro stations this month? They’re part of a passenger survey that WMATA conducts every few years. The results help determine both how much each of our region’s jurisdictions pay for Metro and whether or not Metro should make service changes. Keep reading…
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An express bus line from downtown to Mount Rainier is one step closer to reality
Neighborhoods around Rhode Island Avenue NE were built to depend on transit. A new express bus, the G9, is one step closer to running along the corridor, from downtown to Mount Rainier. Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: All about access
Office space shift; Capitol B for bike; Dedicated funding from the Dome; Cycling stress no more; Taxi tastes; A peek at the pier; DC, fitness king; Two stories too tall; City slides over in Sweden. Keep reading…
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DC has way more vacant properties than it thinks
Editor’s note: While this post has two authors, it’s written from David Sheon’s perspective. The official count of vacant and blighted properties in DC is about 1,200, but in reality, there are likely many more. The reasons for the discrepancy? A number of loopholes in the system for counting these properties, and not enough staff to close them. Keep reading…
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Join us in Edgewood for happy hour
It’s time for the next Greater Greater happy hour! This month, we’re heading back to Edgewood for drinks, conversation, and (if the rain would stop already) some fresh air on the deck of the Dew Drop Inn. Keep reading…