The Columbia Pike Streetcar initiative got another boost this week when the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority approved almost $40 million in funding for the estimated $120 million project.
“I think the streetcars will bring forward a lot of the development that we want to have happen in the area,” said Arlington County Board Member Chris Zimmerman. “It matches what we’re trying to create, which is a walkable main street.”
The 4.7 mile project would run along the Columbia Pike corridor from Pentagon City to Skyline and isa joint effort between Arlington and Fairfax Counties, both of which have approved the project.
The current bus line along the pike is one of the most heavily used and most successful in Virginia, shuttling some 15,000 people a day.
Arlington County transportation experts estimated that the streetcar system would increase public transit ridership along the corridor by 25 to 50 percent, a necessary measure to relieve congestion in an area that has long been slated for revitalization, Zimmerman said.
“The streetcar project is needed to move people more efficiently up and down the pike,” Lander Allin, president of the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, said at the Tuesday night meeting. “We need a transit option that will get more people out of their cars.”
Critics of the plan said that the $120 million needed for the project could instead go toward adding more buses to the street or creating an express bus line.
“I don’t think that the streetcar is an advance in transportation Columbia Pike,” said Josh Ruebner, who has made two unsuccessful bids for Arlington County Board as a Green Party candidate.”The trolleys won’t carry more people, nor will they go faster than the existing bus service. It’s a vanity project designed to make Columbia pike more attractive to developers.”
NVTA ranked the project third on its list of 35 priorities. County officials would have to seek the remaining funding from local, state and regional sources.
