Thursday, April 18, 2013
Transportation director: County was not yet at point to negotiate funding with feds.
The fact that the Columbia Pike streetcar project wasn't recommended to receive federal funding next year "isn't an insurmountable roadblock" for the parties that are working on it, Arlington Transportation Director Dennis Leach told Patch this week. "We are taking a positive, forward-looking approach," Leach said. "We are absolutely committed to advancing an excellent environment on Columbia Pike, making it more transit-oriented and more walkable." The streetcar's funding plan assumed the feds would kick in $75 million through Federal Transit Administration's Small Starts program, to which Arlington and Fairfax counties applied in the fall. It also relies on $35 million in state dollars and $140 million in local tax money, mostly from …
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Arlington residents left a heated town hall on the planned Columbia Pike streetcar with mixed reactions Wednesday night.
Arlington residents left a heated town hall on the planned Columbia Pike streetcar with mixed reactions Wednesday night. The Arlington County Board and county staff took questions from anyone who had them about the proposed $250 million streetcar project that would connect Columbia Pike and Bailey's Crossroads. Time constraints forced some to leave without being able to ask their question. They were told to fill out a comment sheet, which prompted an angry outburst just before 9 p.m. [More: Columbia Pike Streetcar Town Hall Gets Heated] “I am very pleased staff and board members invested time and energy into the meeting,” said Dan Dixon, a member of Arlingtonians for Sensible Transit, which opposes the project. "Unfortunately, the setup …
Arlington County Board answers questions about controversial project.
At times, it seems like people who support the planned streetcar for Columbia Pike and those who oppose it are speaking two different languages. Hundreds representing both sides showed up Wednesday night for what turned out to be a fairly heated town hall at Kenmore Middle School. Four of the five Arlington County Board members explained the processes and decisions that have taken place over the last decade and have gotten the county to this point. To them, the discussion has been going on, scores of people have participated, and the streetcar remains the best long-term strategic investment to run along the Pike. To board member Libby Garvey, who opposes the streetcar and seems less concerned about any political consequences of her …
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Arlington County Board adopts rules that allow public-private partnerships to finance major transportation projects.
The Arlington County Board on Monday adopted guidelines that will allow public-private partnerships to help finance major transportation projects, like the Columbia Pike streetcar, after an unusually heated discussion. Board member Libby Garvey, who was elected in November to her first full four-year term partially on a platform that included opposing the streetcar, fought an uphill battle all night. She fought — with question after question, after question, after question. For about three hours, the board dissected the Virginia Public-Private Transportation Act and pages of new or amended county procurement guidelines. Garvey insisted that the guidelines did not include enough public safeguards — that the new policy would allow a large …
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Democratic incumbent faces opposition from Republican, Green Party candidates.
The proposed Columbia Pike streetcar could be a defining issue in the three-way race for Arlington County Board. The estimated $249 million transit system would connect the Bailey's Crossroads/Skyline area of Fairfax County with Pentagon City, where it may eventually connect with a proposed Route 1 streetcar. At the center of the storm is Democratic incumbent Libby Garvey, who won her board seat in March, filling a term that expires in December. Garvey faces Republican Matt Wavro and Green Party candidate Audrey Clement — both vocal critics of the streetcar. In July, Garvey abstained from a vote to move forward on the Columbia Pike trolley system, saying she needed more time to study the matter. She said this week that she's still talking …
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors plans to apply for federal funding to support streetcar line construction for a joint Arlington-Fairfax project.
FAIRFAX — A streetcar system to relieve congestion and increase economic development along the Columbia Pike corridor is the “locally preferred option” for transportation, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday. The board endorsed a 4.9-mile streetcar line, a joint project with Arlington County that will run from Skyline in Fairfax County to Pentagon City. The 7-2 vote came a week after the Arlington County Board voted 4-0 in favor of the project. Fairfax County Supervisor Linda Smyth abstained, saying her husband had interest in a piece of property near the route. “The streetcar will relieve congestion and present economic development opportunities for the Skyline area and serve a population with the demonstrated support …
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Board voted 4-0 shortly after 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The Arlington County Board voted 4-0 to approve the development of a streetcar system along a five-mile stretch of the Columbia Pike corridor early Tuesday morning. The vote reaffirms a 2006 decision and sets in motion a chain of events to develop and redevelop the Pike. Chairwoman Mary Hynes, shortly before the 1:30 a.m. vote, said the matter boiled down to the need to increase the connectivity of existing bus and rail routes in Northern Virginia. She said she would love to see Arlington residents one day be able to take a one-seat ride to Northern Virginia Community College off Beauregard Street in Alexandria. "Think of how many doors that will open," she said. Board member Jay Fisette said the streetcar moves Northern Virginia away from…
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Jurisdictions strike deal on two-phase plan to bring streetcars to the Route 1 corridor.
Alexandria City Council and the Arlington County Board both moved Saturday to work in partnership to bring streetcars to the Route 1 corridor. The jurisdictions agreed that Arlington, in the first phase of the two-phase project, will begin planning for a Route 1 streetcar line in 2013 that will extend from Crystal City to its border with Alexandria in Potomac Yard. During this time, Alexandria will continue work to finalize the proposed new Potomac Yard Metro station. Alexandria will then begin the streetcar project’s second phase in 2014 by pursuing environmental and alternatives studies to assess the conversion of its portion of the Route 1 transitway from buses to streetcars. The studies are necessary for Alexandria to secure federal …
CSG
9:04 pm on Friday, April 19, 2013
I have written the DOT Inspector General asking for an investigation of Arlington Transportation Director Dennis Leach based upon the outrageous waste of tax dollars for the Pike bus shelter aka 'public art' project. more ›