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D.C. area’s top 2010 transportation stories I


BY ROBERT THOMSON


twasabadyear forMetro, even without the snowstorms that presented challenges for the


Washington area’s transportation systems. The transit systemmade it into four other slots amongmy Top 10 transportation stories for 2010, and not in a good way. Next week: the year ahead.


SNOWCLEANUP Commuters, stuck at home for


days, debated the definition of “passable” roads with various de- partments responsible for plow- ing, and they sometimesmade up the difference by organizing com- munity road crews to finish dig- ging out. On the highways, crews found they had no place to push the snow that kept coming in February. Meanwhile,Metro tried to pre-


serve limited underground ser- vice by ending aboveground ser- vice once the snowfall reached eight inches. Key lessons: Acknowledge up-


front that ourmid-Atlantic trans- portation systems can’t recover quickly from winter storms that would have challenged Northern cities. And don’t let federal em- ployees return to work until the transportation system can carry them.


METROFARE INCREASES


First, there was an emergency


surcharge to balance a budget. Then came an array of proposals for fare increasesandservice cuts. But there were no service cuts. Instead, transit riders faced the largest fare increases in Metro’s history. The increases, which were phased in during the sum- mer, included a new style of fare: the peak-of-the-peak charge. These large and complicated in- creaseswent down relativelywell with riders, perhaps because many of themare federal employ- ees eligible for a transit fringe benefit of up to $230 a month. Congress recently agreed to keep the benefit at that level for anoth- er year.


LEADERSHIP TURMOIL


A bad year for Metro’s leader-


ship began Jan. 14, when General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. an- nounced his resignation, effective in April. Catoe had become the focal point for criticismofMetro’s safety after a fatal Red Line crash in June 2009. Richard Sarles took over as interim general manager, pending a permanent replace- ment. The National Transporta- tion Safety Board faulted Metro for neglectingmany safety issues. Twogroups issuedreportsonhow the agency’s leadershipstructures and attitudes should change. Re- cently, boardmembersChrisZim- merman of Arlington County and Gordon Linton of Maryland an- nounced their resignations.


TYSONSTRAFFIC Construction of high-occupan-


cy toll lanes inVirginia closedand opened bridges along 14 miles of the Capital Beltway’s western side, and the Dulles rail project created towering,


Wars”-style trusses along several MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST Rockville’sMetro station and others closed under eight inches of snow (and then some) in February.


ROCKVILLEPIKE INTERCHANGE


I haven’t included the Inter-


county Connector in my list, be- causemuch of the construction is occurring away from existing roads, and the first segment’s opening has been delayed until next year.However, theMaryland State Highway Administration did wrap up a major project: a new$47.2million interchange for RockvillePike,MontroseParkway and Randolph Road in North Bethesda. Begun in summer 2008 and completed this fall, the inter- change carries the pike over the parkway, eliminating the need for a traffic signal along heavily used routes.


PARKWAY EXTENSIONOPENS


The Virginia Department of NIKKI KAHN/THE WASHINGTON POST


More bike lanes began appearing in the District, such as this one alongNewHampshireAvenue, despite opposition from drivers.


highways. But the engineering feats and traffic challenges came together in Tysons Corner, the urban heart ofNorthern Virginia, where 100,000workers andmany thousands of shoppers navigate one of the nation’s biggest trans- portation construction zones.


METROBAG INSPECTIONS


This was a late, surprise entry


in the Top 10 list. Two years after Metro got a bad reaction from many riders to a planto randomly inspect riders’ property, the tran- sit authority announced a new plan to randomly inspect riders’ property.Onceagain,many riders complained, saying that the in- spections are intrusive and un- helpful in combating terrorism. Metro officials said they were not responding to any specific threat against the transit system. They got a federal grant.


BUSTED ESCALATORS


The agingMetro escalators and “Star


elevators have been breaking down for years, but rider anger reached a high point this year.On


any given day, scores of Metro escalatorswere either broken,un- der long-term repair or out of service for use as stairways. At some of the larger stations, as many as half a dozen escalators andelevatorswereoutat thesame time.Atask force found problems with maintenance procedures, andMetro promised changes. On Oct. 30, the day of the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Hope” on the Mall, the brakes failed on an escalator at L’Enfant Plaza, injur- ing 16 people.


D.C.BIKELANES GabeKlein, director of theD.C.


Department of Transportation, who is leaving office at the end of this year, advanced plans for a network of bike lanes across the city. He encountered opposition from motorists, especially when they sawbike-lane stripingonone of the nation’s most prominent roadways, Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Klein took a look, decided that the original lanes were too wide for safety, and had them narrowed. Since June,drivers and cyclists have been sharing the Avenue of Presidents without much trouble.


Transportation opened a two- mile extension of the Fairfax CountyParkwaynearFortBelvoir, where the Army base relocation program is scheduled to bring in almost 13,000 new jobs. More problematic is transportation planning for the Mark Center, at Interstate 395 and Seminary Road, where 6,400 defense em- ployees are scheduled tomove.


COMMUTER TRAINTROUBLES


When I asked travelers to tell


me what else they would include on this list, they insisted on the difficulties that suburban com- muters have encountered with VRE and MARC train break- downs and delays. As one Mary- lander put it, “The MARC ‘Hell Train’ better be in your Top 10.” thomsonr@washpost.com


6


onwashingtonpost.com Taken for a ride?


Need to vent about your daily commute? Have a


question that you think Dr. Gridlock and your fellow commuters can answer? Want to share your traffic and transit advice? Join Dr. Gridlock in his new forum at


washingtonpost.com/ takenforaride.


DR. G’S TIPS


RAMP CLOSING EXTENDED Because of recent weather problems, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project has extended the closure of the ramp from north- bound Telegraph Road to the Capital Beltway’s inner loop, whichoriginallywasscheduled to reopen last week. Now, it looks like workers will need two extra weeks to complete work on a bridge at the interchange. Watch for variable message


signs in theTelegraph Road corri- dor that guide drivers along this detour from northbound Tele- graph Road: Take the new access ramp to Eisenhower Avenue, which is south of the Beltway, before the closed ramp. Turn left on Eisenhower Avenue and head west to the Eisenhower Connec-


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tor to the inner loop.


METRO BAG INSPECTIONS The Metro Riders’ Advisory


Council, a 21-member citizens panel, plans to hold a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 3 to discuss the transit authority’s abrupt launch of a program in whichpolice randomlycheck pas- sengers’ personal property before they enter the system. Because of public concern


about this policy, the council says, it would like to hear from riders about their experiences and their opinions. The Metro Transit Po- lice Department has been invited to present information and an- swer riders’ questions. The coun- cil meets on the lobby level of Metro headquarters at 600 Fifth


St. NW in the District. Call 202- 962-2891 for information.


PARKWAY RAMP TO OPEN Exit 166B from Interstate 95


south to Alban Road has been closed for a year during construc- tion of the Fairfax County Park- way extension, but the project’s planners hope to open the exit ramp from I-95 to the westbound parkway Wednesday afternoon. This will be a big benefit to drivers in the Newington area, who have been using the year-old detour. Until this ramp opens, drivers


will continue using Exit 167 to reach Fullerton Road. After that, the Virginia Department of Transportation says, any work on the parkway interchange with


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I-95 will be minimal. Motorists will see work on the Boudinot Drive loop, just east of Accotink Creek, on the eastern end of the parkway project.


METRO NEWYEAR’S PLANS On Friday, New Year’s Eve, and


on Saturday, New Year’s Day, Metrorail will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. The trains will operate at the


same reduced frequency that is typical of Sunday service. Metrobuses also will be operat-


ing on a Sunday schedule both days, because ridership drops sharply on the holidays. Metro did not schedule any


track work projects for the last two weekends of the year.


SMARTBENEFITS CHANGES We’ve told you repeatedly on


this page about pending changes in transit riders’ employer-spon- sored benefit programs. The ef- fective dates of those changes have been postponed, but partici- pants still should check with their employers to find out how this will affect them. Thebiggestimpactcomesfrom


the decision by Congress to ex- tend till January 2012 the higher limit of $230 a month on the pre-tax transit benefit. But some employers, knowing that the higher benefit was scheduled to drop to its original level of $120 in January, made payroll adjust- ments for next month. Partici- pants might need to submit a new form to their benefits depart-


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ments to restore a pre-tax deduc- tion higher than $120. Meanwhile, the IRS decided to


give employers and benefit ad- ministrators another one-year ex- tension on complying with the long-standing rule that requires that transit benefits be separated into accounts for transit riding andfor qualified parking.Butthis extension doesn’t mean that the D.C. region’s SmartBenefits pro- gram or the employers who par- ticipate have stopped trying to bring themselves into compli- ance with the IRS rule. Check with your employer on the status of this change, too.


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DR. GRIDLOCK Robert Thomson


All drivers above average?


Dear Dr. Gridlock: I am sure most drivers think


they are good drivers. I have been driving for many years, still drive daily around this area, and I don’t think there is such a thing as a good driver, myself included. A good driver consistently obeys all traffic laws and is courteous to others. The traffic laws I see violated daily and showing drivers to be bad drivers are: Exceeding speed limits by more than 10 mph and failing to come to a full stop before turning right on red.Many drivers don’t even slow down. A full stop means the car is not moving. Also: Crossing solid white


lines on the road. There are many such lines around construction areas on the Virginia side of Interstate 495, and drivers consistently ignore them while talking on hand- held cellphones. —Gordon F. Brown, Bethesda


There is a LakeWobegon


effect among drivers. Tom Vanderbilt cites it in his wonderful book, “Traffic,” in trying to explain surveys that show a majority of drivers consider themselves above average.We tend to rank ourselves higher, he says, when the activity in question is thought to be relatively easy and the skills in question are ambiguous. An Olympic pole vaulter, comparing her performance with the other athletes, would be under no illusions about her ranking. But how about a driver who simply makes it home without crashing? Along the way, he might


have gotten a ticket for speeding, or running a red light.Wouldn’t that serve as a measuement of driving skills since we were trained back in driving school not to do that? No, drivers often tell me, “they’re just trying to raise revenue.”


Metro & ‘Wilson Bridge’


Dear Dr. Gridlock: I went into D.C. last Sunday


viaMetro and knew there was single-tracking on the Blue Line between Braddock Road and Van Dorn Street stations. The reason given on wmata.com was “maintenance work related to the Wilson Bridge project.” Do you know how this relates toMetro? —Nancy Jerdan, Springfield


The Wilson Bridge?Hasn’t


that been done for a while? Yes, but the lengthy and large-scale project to rebuild the bridge and four nearby interchanges is now focused on its final phase, the reconstruction of the Telegraph Road interchange and the widening of the Capital Beltway. That includes a Telegraph


Road bridge on the north side of the Beltway that crosses over


Dr. Gridlock also appears Thursday in Local Living. Comments and questions are welcome and may be used in a column, along with the writer’s name and home community.Write to Dr. Gridlock at TheWashington Post, 1150 15th St. NW,Washington, D.C. 20071. By e-mail: drgridlock@washpost.com. His blog: washingtonpost.com/ drgridlock. On Twitter: drgridlock.


the Blue Line tracks.Work on the bridge foundation and piers could be done safely only whileMetro trains were sharing a single track to avoid the bridge work zone. So why not do the work overnight, when the rail system is shut down? There are only about four hours overnight whenMetro isn’t using its tracks to move trains around. It’s not enough time for the bridge workers to make any significant progress.


Move over everywhere


Dear Dr. Gridlock: On Thanksgiving morning


my son-in-law was driving on Interstate 81 in Tennessee near the Virginia border, going the speed limit and driving in the far right lane. A police car was sitting at the side of the interstate with its top lights revolving. The police car came after


my son-in-law after he had passed by and stopped him because he had not pulled over into the middle lane when he saw the police car sitting there with its revolving lights on. The policeman said it was state law in 50 states that a driver must pull over into the left lane when there is a police car sitting on the side of the road with its lights revolving. Since that happened, I have


foundmyself in similar circumstances and have found it difficult and possibly unsafe to switch lanes into a faster- moving lane of traffic tomy left to comply with this law. —Leonora Burger, Annandale


Hawaii is the only state that


has failed to pass aMove Over law to protect police and other emergency workers on the sides of highways (The District doesn’t have one, either). Virginia has had such a law since 2002. In October, Maryland became one of the last states on the continent to implement one. New York’s law takes effect on New Year’s Day. They require drivers to


change lanes, if possible, to give more clearance to the police and emergency vehicles. But if changing lanes cannot be done safely, drivers are required to slow down to a reasonable and safe speed. How slow is that? The laws


don’t say. But err on the side of caution and stay well below the speed limit if you can’t change lanes.


SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2010


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