(2007) photo by LauraFries.

Shooting in Columbia Heights

Someone shot two people outside the Columbia Heights Metro yesterday. One, with whom the gunman had been having an argument, is in critical condition; the second was a bystander who was only grazed (but still). The altercation apparently started at an orientation session for the Summer Youth Jobs Program. (DCist)  

Dissecting the transportation bill

Oberstar’s draft transportation bill preserves most of the 80-20 funding split between highways and transit, but transit’s share rises from 18.3% to 22.2%. Also, most of the highway money goes for maintenance (which makes some sense, as there are many more highways right now), and states can choose to shift their new-highway money to transit if they want. (Streetsblog)  

Dulles United? Wheaton United?

DC United is polling fans about potential new stadium locations. The choices are DC, lower Montgomery (Wheaton, Rockville, or Silver Spring), and the Dulles corridor. You can take the survey directly; one question asks which (MoCo or Dulles) fans would prefer if DC isn’t possible. (Post, DCist)  

Finally thinking about peds and bikes

The DoD is funding a study of potential pedestrian and bicycle access improvements to the Bethesda medical center. Maryland SHA had only thought about increasing car access, but they don’t have enough money to implement their preferred intersection widenings. MDOT is also going to look at potential transit improvements, also seemingly a little late in the process. (Gazette)  

Green Falls Church?

Falls Church may apply to become a “green laboratory,” using stimulus money to become a “‘net zero’ energy consuming entity” by 2050. In addition to renewable energy, the proposal includes “green planning and development” in zoning and “advanced transportation technologies and infrastructure to enhance public transit and public fleets.” (Falls Church News Press, Joshua D)  (Tip: Joshua D)  

Stopping “jamitons”

An MIT team is analyzing “jamitons,” their name for those traffic jams that just spontaneously occur without a crash, construction, or other apparent external cause. “Once the jam forms, the researchers say, drivers have no choice but to wait for it to clear.” Hopefully the MIT team has read this analysis, which argues that drivers can do something: approach the jam slowly instead of racing ahead and then hitting the brakes, and this research on ants, which manage to avoid traffic jams because they’re less impatient than humans. (Wired)  (Tip: JTS)