Metro and the Region’s (Expanding) Transit Network
Conceptual rendering of the Columbia Pike Streetcar.
While many area residents think of Metro as the only regional transit provider, many transit projects under development in the region are being sponsored by Metro’s partner agencies. For example, the Silver Line is currently being managed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, and the Purple Line by the Maryland Transit Administration.
That doesn’t mean that Metro doesn’t have an important role to play in these projects. In fact, sometimes the project sponsors request that Metro – using its resources and expertise as the fourth-busiest transit system in the nation – manage aspects of the project development process.
For Arlington and Fairfax Counties, Metro managed the study of the Columbia Pike streetcar project. The study, which ended this past October, included an alternatives analysis/environmental assessment, conceptual plans and an application to enter the Small Starts program of the Federal Transit Administration. Many of these documents are available online. Arlington County continues the project’s development, soon to enter preliminary engineering.
For the District of Columbia, Metro has managed the feasibility study of the Benning Road streetcar extension. The study, which will end shortly, includes alignment alternatives and evaluation of bridge structures.
Metro is also coordinating the interoperability of the multiple streetcar lines.View the press release and the board presentation (PDF) about this study. Metro will be addressing Metrobus service and Metrobus fare transactions on streetcar lines.
Metro is proud to play a large and important role in the planning and coordination of transit projects around the region and is using its strategic planning process, Momentum, to explore ways that it can best serve the region’s transit coordination, operation, and development needs.
Many of us who ride the 7Y bus in the evenings would really like it if the bus went up Army Navy Drive ONE MORE BLOCK, to Fern Street, before it turned right to go to the Pentagon. Why? because there is a MetroBus stop on Army Navy and Fern — we can get off there and not have to go ALL the way into the Pentagon to catch a bus.