Posts tagged Dc
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Chicken, meet egg on Dulles rail line
Yesterday, many wrote about the FTA and DOT Secretary Mary Peters’ decision to deny funding for the Metro extension to Dulles, at least unless the project meets a new set of criteria over and above the many hurdles it’s already surmounted. Some are livid. Others doubt the project’s wisdom. But Peters and FTA chief James Simpson advance unreasonable chicken-and-egg… Keep reading…
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Another side of Capitol Quarter
Via DCist, new documentary Chocolate City examines gentrification from the point of view of Capper/Carrollsburg residents, who feel the new mixed-income Capitol Quarter development doesn’t do enough to enable previous residents to return to the community. Keep reading…
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DC zoning laws online, sort of
The zoning laws for DC are posted online. They’re typed documents clearly made on a computer. But… they’re printed out, then scanned in, and the scanned images converted to PDFs. Here’s an example. What’s wrong with this? PDFs made directly from the computer contain their text in computer-readable form. Search engines can read them and make… Keep reading…
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Architecture criticism: the good and the bad
Washington Post architecture critic Ben Forgey drove and walked around downtown Washington giving his opinions about the best and worst of the city’s buildings for Washingtonian. Unlike too many architects, many of his comments focused on the interaction between buildings and the people around them:The Federal Triangle is a planning mistake of huge dimension because… Keep reading…
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Building over Union Station rail yards
One of the best ways for cities to improve the often-forlorn areas around major infrastructure is by building on air rights. When a street crosses over a major highway, why not put buildings over the highway on either side, turning an empty bridge into a city street with activity along the sidewalks, like they are doing in Boston and Columbus. Covering a big rail yard near a major… Keep reading…
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Taxi fare mashup
There’s a new taxi fare estimator/Google maps mashup at the Washington Post site. You can enter an address or click a point on a map for origin and destination, and see how the fare would compare between the old zone system and the new meter plan. It also estimates the extra cost from traffic, giving a range so you can get a sense for how much more a trip might cost in heavy traffic. Most… Keep reading…
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Lower DC taxi fares
Responding to public outcry about the original DC taxi rate proposal, Mayor Fenty lowered rates and eliminated several surcharges. The original proposal had a high “flag drop” fee, keeping the cost for short trips around the same range as it had been under the zone system, and retained extra charges for additional passengers (not present in NYC) and rush hour charges… Keep reading…
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Are protected bike lanes actually more dangerous?
New York has its first physically separated bike lane on 9th Avenue, where the parked cars sit between the bike land and traffic, protecting riders. I emailed DDOT’s Chris Ziemann about the 15th Street reconfiguration, suggesting a similar lane there. Ziemann responded that “separating the bikes from traffic is safer for bikes along the block, but much more dangerous… Keep reading…
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Which way for one-way streets and reversible lanes?
Are one-way streets a good idea? What about reversible lanes? Is slower traffic safer, or does it create more pollution? Citizens in are debating these questions in the context of 15th Street in Logan Circle (which may return to two-way) and Connecticut Avenue in Cleveland Park (whose reversible lanes were the subject of recent debate). The discussion brings up many arguments, some… Keep reading…
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A suburban hotel grows in the urban city
The most controversial topic at the Dupont Circle ANC meeting was the Hilton Washington, the 1960s building on Connecticut Avenue between Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan. The hotel was recently purchased by a private group that wants to renovate the hotel and build a new condo wing on the property, part of a trend of many older hotels adding or converting rooms to condos. The Hilton… Keep reading…