Category: News

STATEMENT: Coalition for Smarter Growth applauds WMATA General Manager’s initiatives and urges a regional ‘team effort’

For Immediate Release
March 7, 2016

Contact:
Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director
Cell: 703-599-6437

WASHINGTON, DC — Today at the National Press Club, and in an Op Ed in the Washington Post on Sunday, the new General Manager for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), Paul Wiedefeld, laid out his comprehensive plan for fixing the transit agency. Coalition for Smarter Growth Executive Director Stewart Schwartz issued the following statement in reaction to Wiedefeld’s plan.

“We applaud the General Manager’s comprehensive and detailed plan for fixing WMATA. The plan offers confidence that GM Wiedefeld is a leader focused on implementing the reforms we need to restore the system and the public’s confidence.

“But restoring Metro must be a team effort. All sectors must share a commitment to fixing the system. This means not just management and line staff, but the unions, the WMATA Board, business and civic sectors, riders, advocates, and above all, our elected officials. Our region cannot function without Metro, so our elected officials must make Metro their top priority transportation investment, backing up the GM with the funding the system needs.

“The region’s economy depends on Metro. For decades, it has been essential for the functioning of our largest employer, the federal government. Today, the marketplace is demonstrating huge demand to live and work near Metro and private developers are committing billions of dollars to building the walkable, urban, transit-oriented communities people want.  Elected officials have said that transit-oriented development (TOD) is the region’s future, but you can’t have TOD without the ‘T’. Fixing Metro must be our top priority if we are to remain economically competitive.”

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

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RELEASE: Reaction to County Executive Leggett BRT Annoucement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2016

CONTACT
Pete Tomao, Coalition for Smarter Growth
516-318-0605
pete@smartergrowth.net

Montgomery County – Earlier today, County Executive Ike Leggett released an update to his proposed transportation budget, adding funding to make near term improvements to bus service and continue Bus Rapid Transit studies.

“When the County Executive’s first proposal came out in January it didn’t have the funding needed to make important transit improvements, so we are very pleased to see the changes he and his staff have made,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “It’s not everything we had hoped for – it depends on state funding to complete the Route 355 BRT study and to add priority bus service on Veirs Mill Road for example, but the County Executive has certainly responded positively to our requests, and those of the Council, to keep moving forward on Bus Rapid Transit, while also providing near term improvements.”

“I’ve ridden just about every route in Montgomery and it’s clear to me that the demand for better transit in the county is strong and we need to be making these investments,” said Pete Tomao, Montgomery County Transit Organizer for the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “Demand for transit crosses socio-economic boundaries, from new immigrants, to seniors, to millenials – including a young mother, Gretchen Goldman, whom I met during my outreach and regularly rides the bus with her young son, Thomas:

“One of the reasons my family and I chose to live here was for the county’s convenience to the city. We’re lucky to live along one of the county’s few express bus routes—the K9 on New Hampshire Ave. Thomas and I ride it regularly. For us, bus access is convenient and quick. It allows us to be a one car family, since we can quickly get to work and social activities in downtown DC or elsewhere in the county.

BRT is about access, it’s about freedom and it’s about equity. In Montgomery County, many do not ride the bus by choice, but by necessity. For them, BRT increases options and decreases burdens. It enhances quality of life and creates opportunities.

When I think about what I want for Thomas’ future, I have a new vision for Montgomery County. I want Thomas to live in a place where he has mobility and independence; where he doesn’t need a car to get around; and where he can have access to safe and affordable transportation options.”

The County Executive is proposing to the Council important investments along Route 355, US29, and Veirs Mill Road, the three primary corridors for the BRT, including:

  • Route 355: Instituting a new Ride On Plus priority service from the Lakeforest Transit Center to Medical Center Metrorail and adding $5 million to the planning budget for the Route 355 BRT proposal. If the state government matches that, it could ensure enough funding for the next phase of the Route 355 planning process.
  • US29: Adding $6.5 million to the planning budget for BRT along US29, with the goal of getting the route up and running within four years.
  • Veirs Mill Road: Requesting that the state prioritize $1.8 million in annual funding for rush hour express bus service along Veirs Mill Road – the busiest bus route in Maryland. The proposed Veirs Mill BRT route already has enough funding to complete planning.

“Looking ahead, our group will continue to work for the funding necessary to build the BRT to the standard necessary to support rapid, efficient and frequent service – service that will attract new workers and new companies and improve access to jobs,” concluded Tomao.

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

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MEDIA ADVISORY: Better Buses Press Conference

​FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 29, 2016

CONTACT
Pete Tomao
516-318-0605 (cell)
pete@smartergrowth.net

What: Montgomery County bus riders, Montgomery County Councilmembers, and Montgomery County transit advocates will hold a press conference to highlight the need for increased funding in the upcoming budget to ensure better bus service for all residents. County officials will accept petition calling for better bus service from county bus riders.

Where: Rockville Metro station, east entrance

When: March 3rd 2016, 8:35am – 9:15am

Visuals: Young mother with baby discusses why better buses are important to her. Bus reliant resident talks about how better bus service improves quality of life. Transit users present Montgomery County elected officials with 1,000 signature petition. Brief remarks from Council Vice President  Roger Berliner, and Councilmembers Marc Elrich, George Leventhal, Hans Riemer.

Montgomery County elected officials accepting petition outside of busy, active bus bays and Metro Station.

Why: Parts of the DC area have some of the worst traffic congestion in the country and many residents have a growing problem with easy access to good paying jobs. Our transit system should be a solution to these problems but a lack of investment has slowed us down. To address problems of congestion and growth the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed the BRT Master Plan in 2013. However BRT study funding is set to expire and no next steps for BRT, or better bus service, were identified in the proposed transportation budget. This Thursday Councilmembers and riders stand together in a show of support for this vital system. It is important that next steps are developed to ensure that Bus Rapid Transit and better bus service become a reality. This petition speaks to the demand for better transit.

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth:
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

Here’s what Metro should do to win riders back

You don’t have to be a Metro rider to know that the region’s  subway system is in trouble. In fact, that’s why many of you have stopped riding.

A quarterly report — prepared by staff for Metro board’s finance committee meeting on Thursday — says ridership in the second half of 2015 remained at levels not seen in more than a decade.

So we decided now might not be a bad time to ask a bunch of smart people what Metro should do to restore confidence in the system and reverse a ridership decline that looks pretty bad.

How bad? The report is “unrelentingly dismal,” as our colleague Dr. Gridlock put it. Ridership fell 6 percent on weekdays in the second half  of 2015, compared with the same period 2014. Weekend ridership fell 12 percent.

The drop affected virtually every station, every time period, and every type of trip. The usual culprits — bad weather, say — couldn’t be blamed for the pervasiveness of the decline, either. More likely explanations were service problems, such as increasingly erratic train schedules, the report says. Riders, meanwhile, have pointed the finger at other issues, such as safety or security.

In  any event,  ridership hasn’t  been this low since 2004.

So Tripping asked a leader of the new Metro riders union, a smart-growther, a community activist and a few others what they would suggest. Here, with some editing, are the Top 10 things (or five or six, or seven things, depending) that Metro should focus on to halt its skid:

Graham Jenkins lives in D.C. and is an everyday Metro rider. He boards the Silver or Yellow lines, depending on his work situation. Graham, who hopes someday to ride in a 7000-series car, also happens to be vice chair and communications director of the WMATA Riders Union. Here’s what he has to say:

  • Run trains more often during off-peak periods. Period.Running trains more frequently would win riders who currently don’t see Metro as a viable option. It would also help space out weekday commuters, alleviating the pressure on normal rush hour service.
  • Cut all fares by 10%. Riders are no longer receiving the service they’ve paid for. For many, the prospect of interminable delays and offloads now outweighs any savings provided by riding. Reducing fares would certainly cut into revenues, but this would to some extent be made up by increasing ridership. And that unto itself would go a long ways towards reversing the “death spiral.”
  • Develop a pass system that makes sense. Right now, every trip – save for those few who purchase the wildly expensive, 28-day-only “monthly” pass for $237 – is on a pay-per-ride basis. This makes every ride, essentially, a discretionary one. By offering an unlimited monthly pass for a reasonable price (and an entire month), WMATA could encourage trips beyond just those of the commute. And it would also ensure itself a steady source of revenue rather than losing money every time it snows, for instance.
  • Make police more visible. While the overall odds of being attacked or harassed remain low, there are mounting fears that Metrorail is becoming more dangerous to one’s personal safety. By stationing more visible Metro Transit Police officers on trains and at “hotspot” stations, riders would gain some reassurance that their safety is being looked after.
  • Run more buses. Much like rail service, bus service outside of peak hours is woefully infrequent. For many, trips would be better served by bus than rail, especially those within D.C. or a given jurisdiction; yet, the infrequent and delayed buses do not seem like a suitable alternative. Running more off-peak buses would provide people with better alternatives to rail service, particularly in the event of delays. Running supplemental buses on routes that coincide with rail lines undergoing track work would also be of great use.
  • Run only 8-car trains on weekends. With fewer trains in service less frequently, there’s no excuse for not maximizing the capacity there is. Waiting 20 minutes for a train, only to see a six-car train pull in that’s standing room only, is one of the most infuriating aspects to off-peak Metro. And, obviously, the rail cars are available.
  •  Be transparent. This covers a lot of ground. But, more specifically, announce a timeline for the remainder of track work and give an explanation for its distribution (as opposed to focusing on single segments until everything is done). What’s left to be done? Where? Why not do it all in one section at once? We still don’t have answers to these questions, and without a light at the end of the tunnel, it’s hard to hold out much hope that track work and reconstruction will end. Ever.

 

Paula Bienenfeld is an archaeologist, a consultant and president of the Montgomery County Civic Federation. Paula  lives within walking distance of North Bethesda’s White Flint Metro station on the Red Line and rides regularly.  She says she and her husband made a deliberate decision to purchase her current and previous homes to be within walking distance of Metro.

“This system used to be one of the best in the world — but now, not so much,” Paula says.

Here’s her list:

  • Make safety top priority. Implement effective, regular safety training for employees, and make sure they have it and make sure the training is repeated at least bi-annually.  Follow up.
  • Improve communication with riders. When trains are halted or delayed, have the conductor explain immediately what the situation is and why the train is stopped. Right now I go to @unsuckdcmetro [on Twitter] to find out what’s going on. Also, get rid of communication “dead zones”  (see point No. 1).
  • Listen to the feds. Metro must address issues that outside auditors and the federal government are saying need to get done.
  • See that your employees work as a team, and take ownership. The other year when it was snowing, there were bags of snowmelt on the platform, and people were slipping as they came off the train. It was a dangerous situation.  I went upstairs to ask if they would open the bags and sprinkle the snowmelt on the platform.  The answer was, ‘We are operations. You have to get maintenance to do that.’  So, the bags just sat there.
  • Make Metro a clean, well-lighted place. Improve the lighting in the stations. Keep the stations–and the cars–clean.
  • Fix the signage on the trains.  In cases where two lines run on the same track, the commuter, and the tourist, needs to know which train is arriving.  Many times the electronic signage on the outside of the car doesn’t work, and it’s not possible to identify the train.
  • Use recorded messages to announce every stop.  This is done in the Chicago “L” system, which began in 1888, and works very well.  In Washington, we still have announcements that are interrupted and full of static, and no one can understand them. How is it that a system that is well over 100 years old has a better message system than our Metro?
  • Put more maps in the trains.  Right now, there is mostly advertising where there needs to be Metro system maps.  If there is no room, place smaller maps on the dividers at the doors so that people, especially tourists, can figure out where the stops are, and where they are.
  • Fix your clocks so off-peak fares are really off peak. Don’t charge rush hour prices when rush hour service is not being delivered.

 

As a former Navy aviator, Stewart Schwartz flew around tracking Russian submarines. Now he keeps an eye on urban sprawl. He is executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a 19-year-old nonprofit that focuses on land use and transportation. Metro is a big priority for the group, and Stewart says he tapped his staff to come up with these ideas:

  • Make real-time train arrival information more accurate and available. Arrival times should be available at station entrances to allow riders to decide their best transportation option before descending into the station. Metro should also make sure arrival time information is accurate and synchronous — across stations, across PIDs (the screens), and apps. It should also change how real-time arrival information is displayed on screens:  instead of filling the whole screen with delays and announcements, scroll some information across the bottom of the screen so that arrival times are always visible.
  • Let people know when arrival time isn’t accurate. Riders should be able to know when real time arrival information isn’t accurate, especially because of single-tracking and delays. Correct the information by making announcements.
  • Do better with Twitter. Metro should ensure that someone is staffing WMATA’s social media accounts 24/7, or at least during all hours when bus or rail service is running.
  • Consider shutting down whole sections for repairs instead of  single-tracking. If single-tracking isn’t allowing fast enough progress on system repairs, consider closing portions of the rail system for longer periods to complete all backlogged maintenance in that closed section. Get it done, and then reopen with full service.
  • Communicate better with us. Metro should do more to tell riders about the purpose, duration, and benefits of all track work by using announcements, signage, the WMATA website, social media, and regional media. While travel delays will still be frustrating, they will be infinitely more tolerable when riders have this information — thereby building more trust and understanding, and winning WMATA the support it needs to address other issues.
  • Communicate better among  yourselves. Metro needs to improve its internal communications, promote more information-sharing within the agency, and instill a stronger safety culture. Every employee is a safety officer, and safety must be in the forefront of everyone’s thinking.
  • Work more closely with local governments on building transit-friendly neighborhoods. Metro needs to improve the joint development process with local governments, accelerating the redevelopment of WMATA property and surrounding land into walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods. Building out transit-oriented development will generate more riders, fare-box revenue, and property taxes, and it will help reduce regional traffic congestion.
  • Find the money. The restoration of Metro cannot happen without adequate and consistent funding. Start an open and inclusive dialogue with the public and elected officials about funding challenges and solutions.
The Washington Post’s transportation reporter Dana Hedgpeth gives us the backstory to the much-maligned mass transit system. The bad news? The long waits in the tunnel aren’t going away anytime soon. The good news? Metro is faster than you thought. (Brad Horn/The Washington Post)

Randal O’Toole is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute who writes about urban growth, public land, and transportation issues. He lives in Camp Sherman, Ore. (pop. 233) but visits Washington often. He has ridden Metro, studied it and written about the region’s mass transit here, here, and here. He is the author of Gridlock: Why We’re Stuck in Traffic and What to Do About It. He is also wearing some very cool-retro Western neckwear in his bio blurbfor Cato. Here’s what Randal has to say: 

  • Stop building rail lines the region can’t afford to maintain. The Silver Line is a disaster, hurting ridership on the Blue Line without adding large numbers of riders itself. Rather than learn that lesson, Metro endorsed the Purple Line, which will only draw more resources away from Metro Rail’s critical maintenance needs.
  • Replace obsolete rail lines with buses. As Metro rail lines wear out, replace these with modern, efficient buses. Buses on a high-occupancy freeway lane can move more people than a Washington subway line, and adding a new bus line doesn’t reduce the capacity of other lines the way the Silver Line reduced the capacity of the Blue Line. Most important, bus capital and maintenance costs are much more affordable than rail, and buses can be just as, if not more, attractive to riders as rail with on-board WiFi and a higher percentage of people comfortably seated rather than standing.
  • Let the computers do the driving. On rail lines that aren’t immediately replaced with buses, Metro should put a higher priority on restoring the signaling and computer systems that once controlled train speeds. The lurching, stuttering human-driven trains since the 2009 fatal collision are uncomfortable to riders and offer little assurance that trains are safer than when they were run by computers.
  • Privatize. WMATA should contract out both rail and bus operations to private companies such as First Transit, Coach, Virgin, or Veolia. Experience in other cities has shown that private operators can save agencies a considerable amount of money, freeing up funds for rail maintenance and bus improvements.
  • Get a sponsor. WMATA should seek corporate or other sponsors of individual rail stations. In exchange for maintaining elevators and escalators, keeping stations clean and attractively decorated, and perhaps even paying for station staff, sponsors would have naming and advertising rights at the stations.
  • Forget dedicated bus lanes.  As Metro develops bus-rapid transit routes, it should avoid the mistake of insisting on expensive and underutilized dedicated bus lanes. Except possibly where numerous bus routes merge in downtown Washington, such dedicated lanes are completely unnecessary. Transit riders are more sensitive to fares and frequencies than speeds, so the best way to boost ridership at a low cost to taxpayers is to offer reasonably priced bus service on major routes at least every five minutes during rush hour and every 10 minutes during other times of the day.
  • Work to convert HOV lanes to bus lanes. In order to have a broad network of bus-rapid transit lines, WMATA should support the construction or conversion of high-occupancy lanes (either free or tolled) along every major highway into and around D.C. Such lanes are a low-cost way of both relieving congestion and providing congestion-free bus routes throughout the region.
  • Make buses more rider-friendly: try “branding” them. One reason some people say rails are better than buses, despite their higher cost, is that rail lines are more “legible,” meaning it is easier to figure out which line to take to a particular destination. That’s only true because there are fewer rail lines than bus lines. But one solution is to paint buses on different routes different colors. This makes it impossible to substitute buses from different routes for one another, but as former FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff notes, paint and buses are cheaper than trains.
  • Follow London’s example: up top, people. Consider double-decker buses for high-use routes. Unlike articulated buses, which are long and clumsy, double-decker buses occupy no more road space than a standard, 40-seat bus, yet can carry twice as many people.
  • Put your financial house in order. WMATA has more than $2.5 billion in unfunded pension and health-care obligations. How will it fund those obligations if it doesn’t have enough transit riders to justify continued subsidies? [And O’Toole warns that shared, self-driving cars are going to do to mass transit what Uber and Lyft have been doing to taxis.] If WMATA doesn’t start to solve that problem now, it will likely end up defaulting on those pension and health care funds.

 

Stephen C. Fehr is an officer at a nonprofit in Washington, and a Metro rider for 33 years. He also happens to be a former Post reporter who covered the transit agency from 1991 to 1996. Here are Steve’s thoughts:

  • Keep to promised headways. What damages Metro’s credibility the most is the failure on many days to deliver rush hour service at the promised intervals between trains. If Metro can’t stick to its advertised schedule, change it to be more realistic.
  •  Improve the public address system in stations and trains. One of my fears living in Washington in an era of terrorism and deteriorating subway safety is of being a Metro passenger during an emergency and failing to hear instructions in stations and trains. It boggles my mind that Metro has failed to keep up with sound technology or that federal homeland security officials apparently have not ordered fixes. No train should leave a rail yard without a working, clear-to-understand PA system, and Metro should do a sound retrofit of its stations.
  •  Make fare increases more predictable. [W]e never know when or how much Metro is going to hit us with a fare increase. Consider instituting a multi-year fare plan in which you raise the base fare, say 5 or 10 cents, on July 1, 2017 and every two years thereafter. The predictability benefits riders and Metro.
  • Stop scolding riders for stuck doors. Metro riders did not design the rail cars with the super-sensitive doors. We know most other transit systems do not have this problem. It is reasonable for an operator to firmly ask passengers not to lean on the doors but it is out of line to berate them for halting the train because of a flawed design.
  • Enforce the no eating/no drinking rule. We’ve come to expect riding dirtier rail cars than in the past. Contributing to this is the lax enforcement of no eating or drinking rules. Riders know they can get away with it.
  • Take care of the little things. On many weeknights, here’s how Metro says goodnight to Silver Line riders exiting at Wiehle Avenue: Train pulls into station and stops. Riders get up and walk toward the doors. Operator then “adjusts” or pulls the train forward a few feet on the platform in a jerky, start-and-stop manner. Startled riders lurch forward, grumbling as they leave the train. Many operators do give warning, but not always.

Kathy A. Gambrell lives in Bethesda. As a “content strategist” in a local business, she uses Metro three or four times a week to meet with clients in downtown Washington, D.C.  Here are some of the ideas she emailed after reading Tripping’s original post:

  • Open your ears to the community, riders, the feds, everyone.Stop being tone-deaf.
  • Jump on the shuttle buses so people can too. Mobilize the shuttle buses — lots of them — as soon as a Metro station shuts down for a problem, such as a loss of power. Then tell riders exactly where they are….not where they are “supposed to be.”
  • Cut fares–especially monthly passes. When it costs anyone anywhere more to ride Metro than to drive everyday, then the fares are too high.
  • Set a uniform policy on young riders for all jurisdictions. Montgomery County has a Kids Ride Free Program that allows free rides on buses and certain routes for children under the age of 18 (or older if the person is still attending high school). The young person has to register for a Youth Cruiser SmarTrip Card. In the District, young people can get a DC One Student Card. In Prince George’s County, students can present proper ID to take advantage of TheBus after school dismissal on regularly scheduled school days. There should be a universal policy for kids who use the local transit systems and Metro.
  • Improve customer relations. Have a system to file a complaint about bad customer service that gets results. Give riders who have had a bad experience a reason to return as a customer.
  • Discipline bus drivers who are verbally abusive. You have cameras, and they should watch more than the passengers.
  • Ditch the posters threatening to throw people in jail for not paying bus fare. It makes Metro look petty and inflexible. Give drivers flexibility to offer free rides when it is appropriate.
  • Practice what you preach. Require Metro’s board members to ride the bus on the coldest days of the year or in rough neighborhoods.

Elizabeth Young, who has worked for the federal government for 20 years, lives in Friendship Heights and rides Metro’s Red and Yellow lines to her job in Crystal City. Her top three priorities:

  • Improve safety. Do what the feds and auditors tell you to do.
  • Increase the numbers and visibility of security personnel.
  • Arrive on time.

“Would I get on an airplane or AMTRAK train that had Metro’s problems?” she writes. “No way. I don’t understand why we allow these ticking time bombs to continue.”

****

We’re happy to hear your nominations, too. If you have a Top 10 list of what Metro should focus on, please send them to Tripping c/o fredrick.kunkle@washpost.com.

Click here to read the original story.

The I-66 deal is more like an armistice than a peace treaty for commuters

The I-66 deal is more like an armistice than a peace treaty for commuters

It’s a big deal, but not a done deal. For commuters, the compromise between Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and the General Assembly on the future of one of America’s most controversial highways will be meaningful only when things start to happen on I-66.

Feuding over I-66 was inevitable. People have been battling for decades over whether it should exist, who should use it and how big it should be. And it isn’t going to stop just because some people in Richmond shake hands.

Robert Thomson is The Washington Post’s “Dr. Gridlock.” He answers travelers’ questions, listens to their complaints and shares their pain on the roads, trains and buses in the Washington region.

Once the governor made his announcement Wednesday morning, interested parties inundated us with their takes on the deal. Proponents and opponents of tolling and widening were unavoidable for comment.

It was only natural. All those years of feuding have made I-66 more than just a way for people to get to and from work. I-66 is a symbol of opposing visions about how people should travel and where they should live.

Nothing about the deal changed the underlying hopes and resentments. We’ll see that during the Virginia Department of Transportation hearings in March on the design of the high-occupancy toll lanes for I-66 inside the Capital Beltway. Nothing about the schedule for creating the HOT lanes in mid-2017 changed as a result of the Richmond deal.

What did change was that the governor agreed to widen the highway at the same time, and without preconditions, but the widening plan still needs to go through the standard environmental review process. So we’re going to see the advocacy groups again on that, and they will be joined by the people who live right along the route who want to protect their interests.

The four-mile widening targets the most problematic part of I-66 during rush hours eastbound. If you’re going to put new asphalt anywhere, do it between the Dulles Connector Road and Ballston, the stretch where masses of vehicles come together and maneuver to be in their best lanes.

The goal of the HOT lanes and of the widening project is to add capacity to the highway. It just depends on how you define “capacity.” The extreme faction for widening defines capacity strictly as more lane space. They mean capacity for more cars. The HOT lanes advocates, on the other hand, talk about more people-moving capacity. You can do that with fewer cars, by managing traffic, making it easier to carpool and adding commuter buses.

Advocates for widening reacted more positively to the governor’s announcement.

“This compromise solution will relieve congestion by adding much needed highway and transit capacity to the region’s most congested transportation corridor sooner, rather than later,” said a statement from the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance. “This is an excellent example of executive-legislative, bipartisan cooperation to advance the greater public good.”

State Sens. J. Chapman “Chap” Petersen (D-Fairfax), Jennifer T. Wexton (D-Loudoun) and Jeremy McPike (D-Prince William) — all representing Northern Virginia districts outside the Beltway — issued a collective statement saying in part that, “For years, our constituents have faced an impenetrable wall of traffic where I-66 meets the Dulles Toll Road and then drops down to two travel lanes. This area is a tangible barrier that has historically inhibited outside-the-Beltway drivers from traveling to Arlington or the District of Columbia.”

Those who gave top billing to the car alternatives contained in the HOT lanes plan were less enthusiastic. “We are deeply disappointed by legislators of both parties,” read the collective response of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Southern Environmental Law Center. The groups acknowledged that the governor made a political compromise that preserved the HOT lanes plan, with its out-of-the-car options, but added, “We urge legislators to understand that an economically successful region like ours cannot build our way out of congestion through highway expansion.”

None of those people will stop caring about I-66. And then, there are the commuters, the people who will actually determine what happens along the interstate. Leaving aside transportation ideology, people studying the I-66 problem don’t profess to being dead certain about what’s going to happen.

The variable toll is supposed to regulate traffic flow, but it will take a while to get the rates right. The hours for tolling or free HOV use will be 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. eastbound and 3 to 7 p.m. westbound, so will we see early and late traffic surges at the edges of those times?

Millions of dollars will be spent to develop the carpool and commuter bus options, but will travelers use them?

Will the widening, supposed to be done by the end of 2019, give the long-distance commuters what they want? No matter how wide the interstate is, it’s still going to be open only to those who meet the high-occupancy vehicle rules or pay the toll.

This is why no transportation plan is ever really done. You make a decision, see what happens, then you tinker. I-66 inside the Beltway is only nine miles long, but it’s a never-ending story.

Photo courtesy of Matt McClain. Click here to read the original story.

Terry McAuliffe is mastering the art of making deals

For the second time in as many weeks, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) has compromised with Republican legislators in ways that have angered progressives who supported him in his election campaign.

On Jan. 28, McAuliffe brokered a deal with GOP legislators that would overturn Attorney General Mark Herring’s (D) decree canceling Virginia’s reciprocity in recognizing permits from 25 states that allow guns to be carried and concealed.

On Feb. 10, he bucked Arlington County, smart-growth advocates and environmentalists by funding the widening of Interstate 66 eastbound for four miles inside the Beltway from the Dulles Connector Road to Ballston.

The deal would keep dynamic tolls on the road for motorists driving eastbound during rush hour and would provide $140 million in state funds for road widening.

A bipartisan group of legislators, including state senators Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax, Loudoun), Jill Vogel (R-Fauquier), Richard Black (R-Loudoun, Prince William), Jeremy McPike (D-Prince William County, Manassas) and Jennifer Wexton (D-Fairfax, Loudoun) and delegates Michael Webert (R-Fauquier) and David Bulova (D-Fairfax), had lobbied for a compromise to decongest traffic on one of the Metro area’s busiest commuter highways.

Tolls will begin in 2017 with widening completed by 2019.

Arlington County and various activists groups had wanted to delay the widening, which has been opposed for years, until data resulting from tolls, HOV records and other transit forms could be studied.

“A lot of progressives are upset,” says Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, who notes that the deal came through after outside-the-Beltway Republicans and some outside-the-Beltway Democrats sought to undo it through legislation banning tolls inside the Beltway and pressing for immediate widening.

Schwartz and Arlington officials have argued that simply widening overburdened roads is a short-lived solution since the extra pavement quickly fills up with more cars from more development that always seems to pop up.

Some Republicans have been pushing to skip tolls on the section of I-66 in question altogether but the McAuliffe deal nixes that idea.

The issues of gun control and highway widening are obviously separate but they do show a turn for McAuliffe. He spent his early years as governor locked in stubborn battles with leading Republican legislators. The key and still unresolved battle has been over expanding Medicaid coverage to 400,000 underserved Virginians.

Suddenly, it seems, McAuliffe is pulling one deal after the other out of his hat. In doing so, he’s been angering groups who had backed him.

He’s already alienated many environmentalists for backing offshore petroleum drilling and endorsing Dominion Resources’ controversial plans to build a $5 billion natural gas pipeline through some of the state’s most verdant countryside.

One wonders who’s next?

Photo courtesy of Steve Helber/Associated Press. Click here to read the original story.

Deal To Widen I-66 Will Bring Tolls And Construction At The Same Time

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe campaigned in 2013 as a dealmaker who could work with Democrats and Republicans, and he says he’s delivering on that promise through another compromise with lawmakers — this time on the thorny transportation issue of widening Interstate 66.

When lawmakers arrived here at the state Capitol, they were already deadlocked with the Democratic governorabout the future I-66. McAuliffe wanted to toll first and potentially widen later. Lawmakers wanted to widen first and toll later. So the governor struck a deal: Start tolling and construction of new lanes at the same time.

“We have waited for 30 years for improvements on I-66 and now together in a bipartisan way we have an action plan that will commence immediately and this should all be completed by 2020,” says McAuliffe. “You know, having lived in Northern Virginia for 25 years and taking 66, it’s a parking lot. Let’s be clear. We needed to do something about it.”

The agreement calls for an environmental assessment this year to start widening eastbound I-66 from the Dulles Connector Road to Ballston. Construction will start in 2017, and the new lane will be open to traffic in 2019. Construction will take place in the existing right-of-way, which means no homes will need to be taken with eminent domain. In some places, the highway already cuts close to backyards.

“This bipartisan agreement will ease congestion and stimulate economic growth that will benefit the entire Commonwealth,” said Sen. Emmett Hanger (R-24). “I am proud of the way in which leaders of both parties and both branches of government were able to sit down and find a way forward on this important project.”

It’s the second historic deal for McAuliffe in 2016. Last month Democrats and Republicans reached a compromiseon gun safety issues.

‘This is an accommodation to TransUrban’

Not everyone is along for the ride. Criticism of the plan started just as soon as the governor was announcing it at a press conference in Richmond. Del. Bob Marshall (R-13) and his wife appeared in the back of the room with a sign denouncing $17-a-day tolls on I-66. After the governor finished, Marshall explained to a gaggle of reporters that he believed the compromise would be a sweetheart deal for the Australian company that landed the contract to operate the I-495’s express lanes.

“This is an accommodation to TransUrban, which wants Lexus lane riders to be able to have a single person in the car to be able to drive from Haymarket or Manassas all the way to D.C,” says Marshall.

Leaders across Northern Virginia are divided on the deal. Arlington County Board Chairwoman Libby Garvey says she’s disappointed that the possibility of multimodal solutions were being abandoned in favor of widening the road for more cars. But Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova praised the deal, saying it’s in line with the county’s position on widening and tolling.

Stewart Schwartz at the Coalition for Smarter Growth says he’s disappointed.

“This guarantees the widening,” says Schwartz. “There’s no prior test to determine if it’s still necessary. It means we have to spend $122 million upfront that we would not have to necessarily spend before.”

 Photo courtesy of Michael Pope. Click here to read the original story.
McAuliffe announces deal on I-66 HOT lanes that would speed up highway widening

McAuliffe announces deal on I-66 HOT lanes that would speed up highway widening

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) announced Wednesday morning that he has agreed to speed up the widening of Interstate 66 inside the Capital Beltway as a compromise with state legislators who were opposed to imposing tolls on those nine miles of highway before an expansion.

The deal is the latest significant compromise McAuliffe has reached with the Republican-controlled General Assembly, following an agreement on gun regulations announced in January, and it already is drawing strong reaction from supporters and opponents.

The I-66 deal shortcuts the McAuliffe administration’s plan to create high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in 2017, study their performance in managing traffic, then decide whether the interstate should be widened. The governor’s original plan called for financing the any widening through the toll revenues. Under the deal announced Wednesday, the cost of the widening will be financed through the state budget. The widening will occur along four miles in the eastbound direction between the Dulles Connector and Ballston, the zone where traffic is heaviest. The budget revisions will allow for a cost up to about $140 million, state transportation officials said.

The deal anticipates that the General Assembly would kill legislation that would have blocked tolling before widening. That includes House Bill 1, sponsored by Del. Jim LeMunyon (R), whose district includes parts of Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

What’s left in place: The HOT lanes still are scheduled to open inside the Beltway in the middle of 2017. Under an agreement with the state, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission will pick a set of programs designed to help I-66 commuters leave their cars behind and allocate some of the toll revenue to those programs. The programs would be in effect before the widening is completed, which should be by 2020. The HOV2 standard for carpooling will remain in effect till 2020. HOV2 drivers can ride free in the HOT lanes. Hybrid car drivers, who today have an exemption from the HOV2 rules and can drive solo in the carpool lanes, will have to pay a toll once the HOT lanes are in place or pick up a passenger for the free ride.

The key difference in the new plan is that the widening will occur years before it would have under the original version, and the widening will proceed without any study period to measure the impact the HOT lanes have on traffic. The new lane could open by the fall of 2019, Deputy Transportation Secretary Nick Donohue said.

Transportation officials said the deal also removes some of the doubts about whether the state’s plan to create HOT lanes between Haymarket and the Beltway could proceed. Transportation officials had warned that this bigger project could become impractical and too expensive if the project inside the Beltway were to be blocked through legislation.

“This is a comprehensive solution,” Virginia Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne said of the governor’s deal with General Assembly leaders. “By 2020, the entire I-66 corridor from University Boulevard in Prince William to the Potomac River will be transformed and will work better for commuters.”

“Taken as a whole, these are probably the most extensive changes to 66 since its inception,” Layne said of the inside and outside the Beltway projects.

Layne, the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation have spent the past two years developing plans to expand the state’s network of high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes onto I-66. While any plan to toll drivers generates opposition, the state plan for I-66 inside the Beltway is unique, because drivers will start paying the tolls before any widening. The other projects on the Capital Beltway and I-95/395, and the one proposed for I-66 outside the Beltway, all involved an expansion of lanes.

Even at its most basic level, the HOT lanes concept is difficult for drivers to understand. With HOT lanes, there are no toll booths. Tolls are collected electronically, and drivers need to use either a regular E-ZPass or the E-ZPass Flex transponder, which has a special setting for drivers claiming a toll-free ride because they are carpooling. The toll rises or falls depending on the level of traffic, with a goal of maintaining a free flow.

The I-66 plan added several unique features. Today’s lanes inside the Beltway are restricted to high-occupancy vehicles (HOV) at rush hours. That means means that during the morning and afternoon travel peaks, the rush hour direction is open only to drivers with at least one passenger or to vehicles that have an exemption, most prominently the drivers of hybrid cars with the proper clean-fuel license plates. The HOT lanes plan opens the restricted lanes to solo drivers willing to pay the variable toll. It eliminates most exemptions, including the one for the hybrid drivers.

The original plan involved converting the HOV lanes to HOT lanes by setting up tolling gantries, without any new asphalt to widen what are now basically two through lanes in each direction. This would still be a boon to solo drivers, now banned from using the interstate during the HOV hours, as long as they were willing to pay the toll. But the HOT lanes plan still became an issue in the fall 2015 General Assembly elections, especially in the outer suburbs of Washington, where many long-distance commuters live, and several bills to ban tolling without widening were introduced for the start of the legislative session in January.

One measure, Senate Bill 234 sponsored by Sen. J. Chapman Petersen (D-Fairfax) was effectively killed for this session by a subcommittee action on Monday. Under the deal announced by McAuliffe, legislative leaders also will dispose of LeMunyon’s House Bill 1.

LeMunyon had this to say as part of the statement issues by the governor’s office:

My colleagues and I made the case for widening I-66 inside the Beltway. I’m glad there is now consensus on the need to do this as soon as possible. This is a step forward in our efforts to address the gridlock on I-66 within the limits of current budget resources. I look forward to taking additional steps to reduce congestion in this key corridor.

McAuliffe administration officials felt that legislative action was a real threat to the I-66 plan. In addition, Layne said, the widening will solve an issue for many commuters who say they experience congestion on their eastbound trips in the afternoon and evening, when the HOV rules are in effect only on the westbound side.

The deal announced Wednesday is between the governor and the General Assembly, rather than with any of the many other interested parties in Northern Virginia. The history of I-66 inside the Beltway is one long string of battles between Arlington County, where the highway is located, and long-distance commuters who want to remove any impediments to driving.

Post reporter Patricia Sullivan passed along this statement from Libby Garvey, chairman of the Arlington County Board, on behalf of the board:

We are disappointed with the news of the amended plan for I-66, which will immediately widen I-66. We respect that Governor McAuliffe and his administration worked hard to protect the earlier plan, which delayed the widening of I-66 until we had several years’ worth of experience with multimodal solutions [carpooling, commuter buses and other travel options]. We appreciate that — aside from the decision to widen immediately — many of the original elements remain intact:

  • Toll revenue is dedicated to multimodal improvements;
  • NVTC (our region’s transit agency) receives the toll revenue;
  • Local governments retain the authority to spend these funds on local projects; and
  • Any widening occurs within existing right-of-way.

As the new plan moves forward, Arlington will be vigilant, working to ensure that appropriate environmental analyses are completed efficiently and comprehensively. We will do all we can to mitigate harm from the widening, and we will explore possible improvements to accompany the widening. As always, Arlington will be working to promote improved regional transit. We need frequent, reliable, and comfortable transit systems along the east-west corridor that get people quickly to where they want to go.

The Fairfax County government represents many of those outside-the-Beltway commuters who want more space on I-66. Sharon Bulova, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, made this statement:

The governor’s announcement today will advance this critical project, which faced dangerous opposition from the General Assembly. This plan relieves congestion on I-66, maintains regional and local control over toll revenue, does not divert funding from other local and regional priorities, and is in line with Fairfax County’s position on widening and tolling. We thank Governor McAuliffe for keeping this project moving forward.

Three advocacy groups on land use and transportation — the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, combined on a statement that gave the deal a mixed review. This is a portion of their statement:

Our organizations have supported the governor’s package of transit, HOV, and tolls for I-66 inside the Beltway as a far more effective approach than widening. This package of solutions will move 40,000 more people through the corridor in the peak hours faster and more reliably, and it won the support of Fairfax, Arlington, Falls Church, and the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission.

Therefore, we are deeply disappointed by legislators of both parties who have pressed to undo this effective demand-management and people-moving package in favor of a widen-first approach. In doing so, the legislators have failed to understand the settled science of induced traffic where widened roads in metropolitan areas quickly fill up again. They also failed to understand the benefits of funding transit through the toll revenues, and the effectiveness of the package in moving more people through the corridor during peak hours.

We’re grateful to the governor for fighting for the package of solutions he has championed for I-66 inside the Beltway. Although we are very disappointed that the widening is being accelerated before more effective solutions are given the opportunity to work, the agreement reflects a political compromise. That said, we urge the governor and local governments to accelerate the funding and implementation of transit and supportive ride-matching and transit marketing necessary to ensure we maximize the number of people using transit and carpooling before the widening takes effect in 2019.

Photo courtesy of VDOT. Click here to read the original story.

Rep. Don Beyer: Gov. McAuliffe’s I-66 Proposal Changes Longstanding Understanding; “I remain dubious about additional asphalt”

I’m 100% with Rep. Don Beyer on this one (see his statement below); VERY dubious about additional asphalt, not pleased about forcing a road widening through Arlington County, which should be a regional model for smart growth and transit. I’m also in full agreement with Greater Greater Washington (GGW) that “McAuliffe’s original tolling proposal had already been significantly compromised,” so this is a worse compromise on an already less-than-ideal compromise. I further agree with GGW on this: “This new compromise is a blow to Arlington, which has long supported investments like transit, cycling, and transportation demand management as alternatives to widening I-66. It is also a blow to Virginia’s moves toward a more data-driven transportation decision-making process, as the lawmakers pushing for widening ignore data saying it’s not necessary.” And, as GGW points out, $140 million doesn’t just come from nowhere; where’s that money coming out of exactly?!? On the positive side, “the majority of toll revenue will still be dedicated to transit and other multimodal improvements,” but that should always be done regardless, as building more roads – and de facto encouraging more sprawl, more fossil fuel consumption, more pollution, more global warming, etc. – is exactly the wrong way to go for a whole host of reasons.

Arlington County had a longstanding agreement that I-66 would not be widened inside the Beltway. Today’s announcement by Governor McAuliffe changes that understanding, and with no public input so far.

My initial reaction is one of concern for Northern Virginians who have worked – many of them for decades – for an alternative approach to big highways. But I continue to learn details of the proposal and to listen to constituents on all sides of this issue.

Early conversations with elected officials who represent Arlington County indicate that Arlington is more open to this partial I-66 widening than in the past, and that the potential benefits from I-66 tolls will bring important transit and multi-modal benefits to the surrounding corridor. I remain dubious about additional asphalt, and await input from my Arlington and other constituents about today’s proposal.

P.S. See after the “flip” for the Coalition for Smarter Growth’s – and several environmental groups – critical reaction to this deal.

RICHMOND, VA — Three leading smart growth, conservation, and transportation reform advocacy groups released the following joint statement on the announced agreement between Governor McAuliffe and state legislators on I-66 inside the Beltway:

Our organizations have supported the Governor’s package of transit, HOV, and tolls for I-66 inside the Beltway as a far more effective approach than widening. This package of solutions will move 40,000 more people through the corridor in the peak hours faster and more reliably, and it won the support of Fairfax, Arlington, Falls Church, and the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission.

Therefore, we are deeply disappointed by legislators of both parties who have pressed to undo this effective demand-management and people-moving package in favor of a widen-first approach. In doing so, the legislators have failed to understand the settled science of induced traffic where widened roads in metropolitan areas quickly fill up again. They also failed to understand the benefits of funding transit through the toll revenues, and the effectiveness of the package in moving more people through the corridor during peak hours.

We’re grateful to the Governor for fighting for the package of solutions he has championed for I-66 inside the Beltway. Although we are very disappointed that the widening is being accelerated before more effective solutions are given the opportunity to work, the agreement reflects a political compromise. That said, we urge the Governor and local governments to accelerate the funding and implementation of transit and supportive ride-matching and transit marketing necessary to ensure we maximize the number of people using transit and carpooling before the widening takes effect in 2019.

We urge legislators to understand that an economically successful region like ours cannot build our way out of congestion through highway expansion. That widening is just a band-aid with an increasing cost to people’s homes, neighborhoods, schools, parks, and health.

We have long made the case that investment in transit and smart growth, which can be coupled with road and parking pricing, is the most effective approach to addressing traffic congestion in the near, medium, and long term. Creating a network of walkable, transit-oriented centers and communities allows us to maximize walking, biking, and transit trips, while minimizing driving. It reduces the sprawling development which is the chief contributor to our traffic congestion, and creates the types of communities so in demand today.

Finally, it is important to recognize that Arlington County’s internationally recognized success in coupling transit-oriented development (TOD) with transit investment has done more to reduce regional traffic congestion than any other jurisdiction or any highway expansion in Northern Virginia, while increasing the region’s economic competitiveness. Arlington’s success is a compelling case for why we should continue to maximize our investment in transit and TOD across Northern Virginia rather than widen highways all the way to DC.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

The Southern Environmental Law Center is a regional nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC’s team of over 60 legal experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use. Learn more at SouthernEnvironment.org.

The Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club is 15,000 members strong. We are your friends and neighbors working to build healthy, livable communities, and to conserve and restore our natural environment. Learn more at sierraclub.org/virginia.

Since 1972, the Piedmont Environmental Council has proudly promoted and protected the natural resources, rural economy, history and beauty of the Virginia Piedmont. Learn more about the Piedmont Environmental Council at pecva.org.

The Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation has campaigned for a ‘wiser, not wider’ I-66 inside the Beltway since 1999. Learn more at acstnet.blogspot.com.

Click here to read the original story.

 

JOINT STATEMENT on I-66 agreement between Governor McAuliffe and Virginia legislators by Coalition for Smarter Growth, Southern Environmental Law Center, Sierra Club – Virginia Chapter, Piedmont Environmental Council, and Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2016

CONTACT
Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth, (703) 599-6437
Trip Pollard, Southern Environmental Law Center, (804) 318-7484

RICHMOND, VA — Three leading smart growth, conservation, and transportation reform advocacy groups released the following joint statement on the announced agreement between Governor McAuliffe and state legislators on I-66 inside the Beltway:

Our organizations have supported the Governor’s package of transit, HOV, and tolls for I-66 inside the Beltway as a far more effective approach than widening. This package of solutions will move 40,000 more people through the corridor in the peak hours faster and more reliably, and it won the support of Fairfax, Arlington, Falls Church, and the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission.

Therefore, we are deeply disappointed by legislators of both parties who have pressed to undo this effective demand-management and people-moving package in favor of a widen-first approach. In doing so, the legislators have failed to understand the settled science of induced traffic where widened roads in metropolitan areas quickly fill up again. They also failed to understand the benefits of funding transit through the toll revenues, and the effectiveness of the package in moving more people through the corridor during peak hours.

We’re grateful to the Governor for fighting for the package of solutions he has championed for I-66 inside the Beltway. Although we are very disappointed that the widening is being accelerated before more effective solutions are given the opportunity to work, the agreement reflects a political compromise. That said, we urge the Governor and local governments to accelerate the funding and implementation of transit and supportive ride-matching and transit marketing necessary to ensure we maximize the number of people using transit and carpooling before the widening takes effect in 2019.

We urge legislators to understand that an economically successful region like ours cannot build our way out of congestion through highway expansion. That widening is just a band-aid with an increasing cost to people’s homes, neighborhoods, schools, parks, and health.

We have long made the case that investment in transit and smart growth, which can be coupled with road and parking pricing, is the most effective approach to addressing traffic congestion in the near, medium, and long term. Creating a network of walkable, transit-oriented centers and communities allows us to maximize walking, biking, and transit trips, while minimizing driving. It reduces the sprawling development which is the chief contributor to our traffic congestion, and creates the types of communities so in demand today.

Finally, it is important to recognize that Arlington County’s internationally recognized success in coupling transit-oriented development (TOD) with transit investment has done more to reduce regional traffic congestion than any other jurisdiction or any highway expansion in Northern Virginia, while increasing the region’s economic competitiveness. Arlington’s success is a compelling case for why we should continue to maximize our investment in transit and TOD across Northern Virginia rather than widen highways all the way to DC.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

The Southern Environmental Law Center is a regional nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC’s team of over 60 legal experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use. Learn more at SouthernEnvironment.org.

The Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club is 15,000 members strong. We are your friends and neighbors working to build healthy, livable communities, and to conserve and restore our natural environment. Learn more at sierraclub.org/virginia.

Since 1972, the Piedmont Environmental Council has proudly promoted and protected the natural resources, rural economy, history and beauty of the Virginia Piedmont. Learn more about the Piedmont Environmental Council at pecva.org.

 The Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation has campaigned for a ‘wiser, not wider’ I-66 inside the Beltway since 1999.  Learn more at acstnet.blogspot.com.        

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