Arlington County officials are vocal about their plans to use $20.5 million from the Federal Transit Administration’s Small Starts program to build the Crystal City Transitway, a Bus Rapid Transit project. But they aren’t telling the public that they also plan to tear down the BRT and replace it with streetcars less than three years later. Documents obtained by The Washington Examiner confirm that this colossal, unjustified waste of tax dollars has been deliberately concealed from the public. On a Nov. 9, 2010, agenda, members of the Transit Advisory Committee were informed by county staff that Arlington “will explore the possibility of converting [the BRT] to a streetcar.” However, the county board had quietly approved the switch the previous month, and staff was already ramping up the procurement process for the $140 million streetcar project. A Jan. 11, 2011, TAC briefing confirmed that the “bus transitway will set the stage for a future streetcar.”
In February, Steven Del Giudice, head of transit operations and planning in Arlington, “apologized for not providing more timely information on Crystal City,” lamely explaining that “the board’s decision on the Crystal City streetcar was the result of a planning document. …” prepared by the same staff that admitted its top priority for Columbia Pike — a key arterial in congested Northern Virginia — was transit and pedestrians, not the auto commuters who represent the vast majority of drive-time traffic. Arlington residents have also been kept in the dark regarding the results of a required simulation that uses computer modeling to produce a cost/benefit analysis of another streetcar project the board previously approved on Columbia Pike. The analysis identifies changes in cost and travel time for vehicular traffic, pedestrians, and cyclists.
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Release of the simulation results should be a top priority. Arlington is planning to narrow traffic lanes on Columbia Pike from the current 12 feet, which will force vehicles closer and make commuting even more challenging. Bus pullouts will be eliminated, so motorists trapped behind stopped streetcars will change lanes more often, causing more accidents. The streetcar tracks’ open flange and a too-narrow parking lane will create major safety hazards for cyclists.
And a previous study showed that streetcars on the pike will turn an easy 15-minute commute to a 50-minute marathon. Arlingtonians take great pride in “The Arlington Way,” a collaborative process in which public and private concerns are openly aired before any major decisions are made. But the county’s desire for streetcars at any price has run roughshod over the public’s right to know, to say nothing of the reality that most people moving around in Arlington do so in private passenger vehicles, not on public transit or politically correct bicycles.
