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.