Breakfast links: Let’s roll

Wiehle turning

Fairfax planners approved a mixed-use development at the future Wiehle Avenue Metro station. The developer will build a garage to be part of 6,000 spaces at the station, along with 7 office and residential buildings. The plan almost got derailed over whether to allow vehicles, like taxis, to drive in the plaza adjacent to the Metro station or dedicated it more to pedestrians. (Fairfax Times, Reston Connection, Michael P)

Metro momentum

DC, Maryland, and Virginia will increase their funding for the Tri-State Oversight Committee, dedicating 1 full-time employee and 1 part-time employee each to the interstate group, and strengthen the chairman (Examiner) … Richard Sarles hopes to tackle escalator and elevator reliability and will release a regular “scorecard” of performance metrics. (Post)

High turnover or high demand?

MetroAccess’s high costs might come from inefficiency by the contractor, or simply the way demand for the paratransit service has soared. COG planner Wendy Klancher thinks WMATA should use multiple competing contractors instead of just one. (WAMU)

Barnes Dance in Chinatown?

7th and H has new diagonal white lines. Penn Quarter Living suspects this could mean DDOT is installing a Barnes Dance, where pedestrians can cross in all directions at once.

What Cohen says about their project

Lydia DePillis gets some more info on the Cohen Companies development I analyzed last night: It will be a Planned Unit Development (PUD), meaning plenty of design review is yet to come, and financing and final design are waiting until after the project gets through approval hurdles like NCPC. (City Paper)

WTOP on top of bike safety

I missed this a few weeks ago, but given the times we’ve mocked WTOP, it’s worth seeing their excellent piece on cycle safety after Constance Holden was killed at 12th and NY Ave, NW. It quotes WABA bike safety coordinator Glenn Harrison on “windshield perspective” and quotes drivers and cyclists agreeing everyone needs to watch out for each other.

Planning can go in both directions

Rather than thinking of shrinking cities like Youngstown, Cleveland and Detroit as failures, leaders in Youngstown, Ohio is actively planning for its future — it’s just that the future involves having a smaller city than today. (Model D, Redline SOS)  (Tip: Redline SOS)

And…

The Post covers the UMD transit ban and implications for the Purple Line … There’s another Adams Morgan public art controversy (City Paper) … Safeway finally delivered the reusable bags it promised to area nonprofits (DCist) … Tom Toles lampoons the Supreme Court‘s closing of the front entrance. (Post)