Recent Posts
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Montgomery’s McMansions will need to find a new purpose
Skeptics of Montgomery County’s proposal to allow homeowners to build accessory apartments more easily claim it will change or harm single-family neighborhoods. But recent trends in housing suggest that those neighborhoods will change anyway. Slightly less than half of Montgomery households live in single-family homes today, and pretty soon they may no longer be… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Obligations
WV wants to keep MARC service; Why the Silver Line survived; Gray fills boards; CaBi rolls along; Can’t afford it anymore; SF allows rear boardings; California’s loss is Northeast’s gain; Planning heads for mayor!. Keep reading…
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Holiday links: For the fourth
How to get around; Non-profit drives drinkers home; Safety rules a waste?; WCP gets bought; Charles County adopts traffic cameras; Rents in NoMa, Capitol Riverfront rise the most; Only some city brands stick; NPS will soon change vending contract; Don’t assault anyone; And…. Keep reading…
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Are scooters bikes or motorcycles?
District law accommodates bicycles and automobiles together on urban streets, but scooters sit in a gray area. Some are classified as motorcycles and others motorized bicycles, which enjoy greater flexibility. To encourage this alternate mode of transportation, regulations should treat scooters more like bicycles than motorcycles. In February, I purchased what… Keep reading…
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What will it cost to bury power lines?
Should more of the power lines in the region be underground? That’s a question many are asking as many residents of DC, Maryland, and Virginia remain without power over 3 days after a storm and may not get it back for days more. Most, but not all, neighborhoods in DC with underground lines never lost power. Mayor Gray thinks it’s worth talking about. He said, “People… Keep reading…
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BREAKING: Loudoun approves Silver Line
Loudoun’s Board of Supervisors just voted to move ahead with the Metro Silver Line extension. Loudoun will contribute $270 million to build of the line including 2 stations in the county in addition to Dulles Airport, and chip in on the operating costs. The vote was 5-4, with supervisor Ken Reid the swing vote, reports WAMU’s Martin Di Caro. Keep reading…
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Federal transportation bill clings to the status quo
Congress passed a major transportation bill last week, authorizing more than $100 billion in spending for highways, transit, and other modes over the next 2 years. The bill changes a number of rules and shifts the ways in which money is distributed, in an effort to preserve highway funding. The bill generally maintains the status quo of federal transportation spending,… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Down to the wire
Loudoun decide on Silver Line; Gray criticizes slow Pepco; Pepco too close to local officials?; Mapping DC’s power outages; Ohio Congressman targets streetcar funding; Apartments sell themselves through bikability; DC taxis threaten strike; And…. Keep reading…
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Greenbelt bus riders need some shade
At the northern end of the Green Line, the Greenbelt station is a major bus transfer point. But passengers transferring between rail and bus face an unrelenting summer sun. In temperatures like those we saw this week, it can be a hellish wait for the bus. Keep reading…
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New Metro fare table may confuse new riders
Metro fares rose on Sunday, and the surcharge for a paper farecard increased to $1 per trip. Metro chose to list the SmarTrip fares, not the paper farecard fares, on the fare tables, along with a separate note about the surcharge. This could create significant confusion for the riders most likely to consult the tables: tourists using paper cards. Metro could, instead, have shown… Keep reading…