Photo by Michael Ragazzon on Flickr.

PG residents want brighter roads

Residents have been asking for better lighting for years at the Landover intersection where Wayne Cuffy was killed (and Ashley Halsey III blamed Cuffy). Local police and SHA officials attended a vigil for Cuffy. (TBD On Foot)  

SHA trying darker roads

Maryland’s State Highway Administration is trying reducing lighting along some highways to save energy and money. If adopted, will this be limited to freeways or might roads with pedestrians start getting darker? (Post)  

Bad bills and bad Senators who support them

5 Virginia Democratic senators including finance chairman Charles Colgan of Fairfax have endorsed Governor McDonnell’s “borrow money to build roads” transportation plan. McDonnell is also proposing another bill to divert sales tax to build even more roads. (Post)  

Money’s for roads, but he wants control of Metro

Despite the governor’s budgetary focus on roads over transit, he is supporting a bill from Fairfax Republican James LeMunyon to give him 2 of the 4 appointments to the WMATA Board and require that all Virginia representatives be transit experts rather than the kind of local officials who have served the state so well thus far. (Post) … Ask your reps to oppose this bill here. (CSG)  

Maryland needs new crosswalk strategy

Maryland is one of four states (if you count DC) in which 20% of all road fatalities include a pedestrian. This is partly due to higher exposure from population density, but also to a culture where drivers actually speed up to beat pedestrians across a crosswalk. (Baltimore Sun)  

Gray, Brown ride $2,000/month SUVs

Both Vince Gray and Kwame Brown ride around in $2,000/month Lincoln Navigators all “fully loaded” with the fanciest features. It’s not clear why it costs so much, or they couldn’t use one of the cars they already had. (City Paper) … Eric Fidler notes a Chevy Volt rental is just $430/month.  

Talking transit, taxes and election tactics

News Channel 8’s Bruce DePuyt sat down with David, Jim Dinegar of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, and Post reporter Ann Scott Tyson to talk about Metro’s future. DePuyt also hosted Jack Evans to talk about DC’s budget deficit and Patrick Mara to talk about his Council run. (TBD)  

National Harbor to add gas station

National Harbor, which asked to have a bus rerouted away from the development because it didn’t fit the image they were seeking, is putting in a gas station to show a new focus on residential development. (RPUS)  

And…

Don’t forget Greater Greater Washington’s 3rd birthday party tonight at RFD in Chinatown! … The Guangzhou BRT won the 2011 Sustainable Transport award last night. The system is only 23 km long, but carries 800,000 passengers per day. (Transportation Nation) … A 2-year-old who’s “obsessed” with Seattle’s trolleybuses got a bus-shaped cake for his birthday, with candles forming the trolley poles. (Treehugger)