Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess. It seems like just a week or so ago that a group of us were looking at drawings and scale models and listening to Virginia Department of Transportation officials talk about the new Springfield Interchange. If anything, it was a confusing pot of linguini-like
ramps and roads that took an advanced degree in engineering to decipher. This was going to solve the congestion problems and improve safety?
It seemed like the taxpayers were being sold a very expensive bill of goods.
The original plans for the new Springfield Interchange were proposed at a time when VDOT was getting hammered for cost over-runs in many projects, and there wasn’t a lot of confidence that this wouldn’t become just another one to add to the list. After all, the region hadn’t seen too many projects with a price tag that had so many zeros in it.
I remember standing on the rooftop of a hotel in the area to get a bird’s-eye view of the project as ground was broken and wondering where I would be in eight years when (and if) the thing even got finished. But here I am, and
here we are a little ahead of schedule.
No, the Springfield Interchange is not the most beautiful thing in the world, unless you are a traffic engineer doing a thesis on load-bearing concrete slabs, but it is a functional wonder.
All those ramps and flyovers and entrances and exits and merges have coalesced to become a better way for all of the interstate traffic and commuter traffic and mall traffic and Sunday sightseers to get around more easily.
I must admit that I still have to pause a bit when approaching the interchange from the south and, despite all the debates and discussion about signage, would like to have a little more information to guide me to the proper lane a little earlier.
All in all, though, I think that congratulations need to go out to all of the men and women who played a role in this massive project. They have created something that probably will not be duplicated in this region.
Unprofitable bus ads
In Columbus, Ohio, they’re getting rid of exterior advertising on their buses. No, this is not some social program like that in Montgomery County where ads on Ride-On buses are banned for aesthetic reasons. Officials in Columbus say the ads are destroying the paint and metal on the buses.
They say that moisture gets behind the ads and erodes the bus surface. OK, they have only 234 buses there and the advertising revenue isn’t that great, but it’s an interesting situation.
The decision apparently was made easierbecause the system is actually losing money by putting the ads on the buses.
With all of the talk locally about increasing advertising as a way to increase revenue for Metro, it’s hard to imagine a place where advertising actually costs more than it makes.
