PlanItMetro

Transit expansion is in demand but Metrorail, light rail, and other high capacity transit projects can be expensive to build, operate and maintain.  With limited resources to invest, our region must ensure that these projects serve the most robust transit markets and are supported by strong transit friendly policies.

Informed by our peers and local performance measures, Metro is developing guidelines that the region can use to inform development of high capacity transit projects. As we’ve explored previously, there’s much more to transit expansion than Metrorail. In fact, due to the cost associated with Metrorail expansion along with existing land uses and built environment in much of the region, most of our future high capacity transit projects will be made up of other transit modes. But what is the best way to decide what mode best fits each corridor? The goal of the expansion guidelines is to inform those decisions.

Development in Arlington’s Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor has validated initial and ongoing investments in Metrorail. (source: Arlington County)

A literature and peer review included policy documents from BART (PDF), the Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Florida DOT, Virginia DRPT, Federal Transit Administration (PDF), and research from the University of California Transportation Center (UCTC). The review found that ridership, density, the presence of walkable streets and sidewalks, local plans and policies, and cost effectiveness are the most relevant criteria to evaluate transit projects and that rigorous performance targets are needed to support each transit mode. Read more…

This map shows the corridors being studied by the region for potential light rail, streetcar, or bus rapid transit lines. Click the image for a larger version.

The Washington, DC metropolitan region may be the home of a light rail line and several streetcar lines in the near future according to regional plans.  The state of Maryland is in the preliminary engineering phase of the Purple Line, a 16-mile light rail line that is proposed to run between Bethesda in Montgomery County to New Carrollton in Prince George’s County.  The District of Columbia has almost completed construction of the H Street-Benning Road streetcar line, with scheduled revenue operation expected to begin later this year, and has also planned an expanded streetcar network.  Meanwhile, Arlington and Fairfax Counties have submitted an application for federal Small Starts funding to begin project development for the Columbia Pike Streetcar line, running almost five miles from Pentagon City in Arlington to Bailey’s Crossroads in Fairfax County.  Arlington County is also advancing planning for its Crystal City Streetcar project, which would run from Pentagon City, through Crystal City, to the southern Arlington County line in Potomac Yard.   (The Crystal City Streetcar project can be considered a follow-up to the Crystal City Transitway project currently under construction.)

Recognizing that Metro isn’t the sponsor or funding agent for these LRT and streetcar systems, and that key decisions made early in the process on the Columbia Pike and H Street streetcar lines have the potential to affect other systems for years to come, Metro has been coordinating with the sponsors since 2010 through the LRT and Streetcar Interoperability Study.  A briefing on this study was presented to the Metro Board in early 2011. Read more…