Low-cost planning maneuvers could increase transit-accessibility for one thousand households and save the region $1.3 million per year!
We recently covered an exciting development project in Northeast D.C., one that will create housing and jobs right next to the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station. Because the site is located within the station’s half-mile walk shed, all those new residents, employees and shoppers are likely Metro customers, whose fares will help improve the system for everyone.
But is that the end of the story?
In our analysis of station walk sheds — the area within a half-mile walk of the station — we discovered that the Rhode Island Avenue walk shed is constrained by physical barriers that force pedestrians to make lengthy detours. The most notable of these is a retaining wall along the northern edge of the redevelopment site (currently the Rhode Island Center shopping mall):
Current walk shed of Rhode Island Ave station, with illustration of the retaining wall.
Better urban planning can help save our rivers and the Chesapeake Bay—by reducing this region’s future impervious surfaces by 20%. Here’s why.
As many Washingtonians know, the Chesapeake Bay needs help. Dead zones and algae blooms appear every summer which destroy aquatic life in the Bay and threaten fishing, swimming, and economic health. A major contributor to this problem is rainwater runoff from paved roads, parking lots, and roofs. These are called “impermeable surfaces”. In contrast, permeable (or pervious) surface is one through which liquids are able to pass.
Grassy fields, woodlands and farmlands are excellent examples of this: rainwater or snowmelt soaks into the ground, pollutants in the water are filtered naturally, and excess water travels underground to streams and eventually (in the Washington region) the Chesapeake Bay.Rainfall that falls on impervious surfaces like paved roads, parking lots and roofs “runs off” unfiltered making its way to the Chesapeake Bay—along with nitrogen and sulfur oxides from vehicle emissions, motor oil, and road salt residue.
Figure 1 – Map of impermeability throughout the region with overlaid jurisdictional boundaries and Metrorail system for reference. Note the concentrations of highly-impermeable surfaces in central D.C., and at other activity centers like Dulles.
Sustainability experts gathered in DC last Monday to talk about some of their agencies most exciting and biggest opportunities.
Last Monday Metro hosted the first meeting of East Coast transit sustainability specialists. Sustainability staff from Metro, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Amtrak, and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority were in attendance to discuss how they have successfully implemented projects focused on energy savings and operational efficiency. Developments in regenerative braking energy storage, agency wide energy management programming, and waste management were presented by attendees. In the afternoon, a lively discussion on the role of transit in regional sustainability was taken on the road on an all-electric bus demonstration ride.
Through future sustainability forums planned for later in 2015 inter agency collaboration will continue to enhance resource efficient transit operations throughout the region.
Fairfax County seeks input from bike-and-ride commuters.
As we have discussed previously, safe and convenient pedestrian and bicycle access is critical to Metro’s success, and WMATA works closely with local jurisdictions to find ways to improve conditions for customers arriving on foot or bike. Compared with the high expense of building more parking garages for park-and-ride customers, investing in better walking and biking infrastructure is an incredibly cost-effective way of attracting Metro customers. On Metro station property, WMATA is making investments such as bike parking and path improvements. On the public streets beyond, our local and state partners are installing their own new facilities for people walking/biking to the station. Read more…
Station-area walkability is one of the most potent congestion-busting tools in the planner’s bag of tricks. Now we’ve mapped out in detail which stations are living up to their full potential – and where we need to redouble our efforts.
Metro’s Office of Planning is wiring the science of walkability into WMATA’s Key Performance Indicators. We are committed to working with our partner jurisdictions to improving station area access and identifying the near-term and low-cost improvements that have big returns for ridership and revenue. And we have been working diligently to develop a comprehensive geodatabase of walk sheds and the land uses – existing, planned, and proposed – located within them.
Example walk shed, extracted from the Walk Shed Atlas.
We’re also happy to release for the first time a comprehensive atlas of Metrorail walk sheds that includes some of the data that the Office of Planning uses to calculate ridership potential and evaluate investment needs. You’ll notice that each station area has a unique “footprint” and that in almost every case, the walkshed footprint is related to the overall performance of the station (as defined by all-day boardings).
New garage lighting initiative demonstrates the power of innovative thinking (and partnerships)
Huntington South Garage Before and After
Last spring you read about Metro’s initiative to replace 13,500 light fixtures with high-efficiency light-emitting diode (LED) lights. This investment would brighten and make safer Metro’s garages while cutting energy costs by utilizing state-of-the art lighting, monitoring, motion-sensing, and remote management technology.
Good news – Metro has completed the first set of installations at our Huntington garage and is rolling this technology out to the remainder of our structured parking facilities. Check out a video of the project underway!
Notably, this initiative is the product of a private partnership with Phillips and the launch of innovative performance-based contracting at WMATA. Philips self-financed and is installing, and maintaining the lighting system for 10 years. In return, WMATA makes pre-set “service” payments only if Philips can produce the energy savings they have guaranteed. WMATA will continue to pay the energy bills for lighting in the garages, but because the garages cost less to light, Phillips can get paid out of the cost savings over the 10-year contract cycle. Read more…
Metro’s new Largo stormwater facility is making progress towards the Authority’s sustainability goals including reduced water and energy use, carbon emissions, and operating costs.
On November 13, Metro hosted a tour of its high-efficiency stormwater treatment facility at Largo. Highlighted during its design phase in a previous post on Metro’s Sustainability Agenda. The facility is now fully functional – with a green roof and solar panels that create enough energy to run the plant round the clock. “With a truly innovative design, this facility provides a green and cost effective model for organizations in the region as they make investments in similar facilities” according to Metro’s sustainability manager, Rachel Healy.The open house provided an opportunity for interested regional stakeholders to tour all of the facilities uniquely practical design in operation. Representatives from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, Maryland Department of the Environment, Environmental Protection Agency, and Prince George’s County Council were in attendance.
Designed to ensure Metro meets stricter new discharge permit requirements that form part of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, the facility pumps an estimated 27,000 gallons of water per day from Metrorail tunnels near the Largo Town Center Station. The new state of the art facility houses a unique combination of features designed to reduce energy consumption and continue Metro’s commitment to invest in sustainability and reduce operating costs.
Instead of using more traditional heavy duty water pumps that have a high energy consumption and operating cost, the new Largo facility features a combination of gravity-fed treatment tanks and a high-efficiency mixing system that uses bubbles of compressed air to “circulate” the water. On the roof, solar panels supply extra electricity back to grid during the day and the building only draws grid power at night or during extended periods of low sunlight. Metro will prevent an estimated 3 tons of C02 emissions per year through solar energy generation alone. This is the equivalent of half the emissions from an average homes electric use over the same period.
The Largo treatment facility showcases the dedication of Metro’s engineers and design staff in developing what is truly a cutting edge facility to meet State requirements and deliver ongoing operating savings for the Authority. Check out Metro’s video of the project and let us know what you think.
New sustainable water treatment systems used to cool underground Metrorail Stations are projected to save Metro millions of gallons of water and hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
This month, Metro completed one of its first Sustainability Lab pilot projects – the installation of state-of-the-art water treatment systems at seven (7) chiller plants on the Metrorail system. The project will result in an estimated 400,000 gallons of water savings per location annually.
Metro’s sustainability targets both support the region’s sustainable growth and green the Authority’s operations.
Metro’s Sustainability Targets
The DC metropolitan region is predicted to continue to experience rapid growth through 2025. Over this period, Metro is seeking to expand capacity through Metro 2025 investments as part of Metro’s Strategic Plan Momentum. As a companion to Momentum, Metro’s Sustainability Initiative is both a commitment to “greening” operations inside and out and a plan to implement and mainstream that commitment. To coincide with this year’s Earth Day, the Authority launched Metro’s Sustainability Initiative, and with it, a set of ambitious but achievable performance targets.
Metro’s sustainability targets position the Authority to both support the region’s sustainable growth and to green the Authority’s operations. To highlight the dual role of Metro’s sustainability program, both regional and Authority focused performance targets have been set, as described below:
Regional Performance Targets:
Increase ridership 25 percent by 2025 and increase transit’s “mode share” or the portion of commute trips;
Connect Communities by ensuring that more of the region’s growth is served by transit; and
Increase the net greenhouse gas the region avoids through transit use (greenhouse gas displacement) by 10 percent by 2025.
Internal Performance Targets:
Reduce energy use per vehicle mile 15 percent by 2025, and cut in half greenhouse gas emissions per vehicle mile during the same period;
Reduce potable water use per vehicle mile 20 percent by 2025;
Source 30% of the electricity Metro uses from renewables by 2025;
Achieve 100% on-site stormwater management for stations and facilities (no target date); and
Achieve a 100% waste diversion rate/zero waste (no target date).
These performance targets allow Metro to track and manage its support of the regions sustainability goals and the Authority’s resource consumption – a measure of operational efficiency (per vehicle mile) – as well as enabling Metro to report annually on progress towards those aims.
Metro provides the transit network around which a compact, low-carbon region can be framed. Without Metro available, the region would release an additional 400,000 metric tons of CO2e per year – equivalent to the carbon consumed annually by a land area approximately the same size as Fairfax County. By advocating for transit-oriented development as the region grows, Metro can continue to increase the net greenhouse gas (GHG) benefit or GHG displacement it provides to the region in three ways.
As we have discussed previously
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