and SUVs, trucks, and motorcycles. They turn completely vicious whenever that fixation is threatened--- invade Iraq! Bomb Iran! Overthrow Chavez! Just don't mess with my right to drive wherever I want, whenever I want, and don't yap to me about mass transit. Until they figure out a non-internal combustion engine way to let me leave where I am and go directly to where I want to go at whatever minute I choose to go, mass transit will never replace my personal vehicle. So there.

And God help the politician who even looks like he/she might threaten this way of life. I'd rather complain about congestion, drive 50 miles one way to my job, give lip service to globsl estming, snf indidt on continuing exactly as I am. Until, of course, absolutely forced to change because oil runs out and the lights turn off. 

Just like the Easter Islanders denuding their island of trees, having aristocratic warfare for reasons of ego and honor, and carving senseless big heads because of tradition--- until the economy and the then the population crashed.

my typing looked okay in paragraph 2 until it rolled up here. Bah! Should read "global warming, and insist on continuing..." Censorship, that's what.

this is going to have a really bad ending, I fear....

Teddy - it's not an issue of Metro or no-Metro.  It's an issue of underground vs. something dividing the street at 35 feet.  Where have you been?

is watching the whole hoorah's nest unfold. Sarcasm is not, apparently in your vocabulary, or was I too obtuse?

This is where you draw the line between wishful thinking and reality. 

Route 7 and Route 123 are MAJOR throughfares that handle hundreds of thousands of cars daily.  (This is not Wilson or Clarendon Boulevard here folks)  Congestion is peaked at rush hour but delays are common at all times.  Lane expansion is sorely needed on both of these HIGHWAYS.  I would invite all of you to try and drive on either of these roads between 8 and 10 AM or 5 and 8 PM.  Currently is is basically gridlock.

As most of you know I am with you guys on most of the Tyson Corner issues but not widening 7 or 123 is a recipe for disaster

Now, I will say it makes alot of sense to put in a full grid into tysons and make some of the secondary routes mixed use

 

You've got to realize that widening roads just leads to more sprawl and, a few years later, just as bad (if not worse) congestion than ever.  The answer is high-density/transit-oriented development, aka "smart growth."  The answer is NOT building new highways through the middle of our neighborhoods.

We aren't going to solve this :-p.  So let me just try and summarize both "sides"  I am almost squarely in the middle on this (both sides make sense and are propably even correct) and look at the surrounding area before making a decision but just looking at Tysons here we go

On the one hand Arlington is possible.  Via increased density mainly through condo towers  (uh oh costs here but seperate topic :-p), a city street lanscape, a robust local circulator bus system it is possible to begin to transform tysons into a walkable community.  There will always be an issue with commuter car traffic but at least existing residents will experience a multi-modal community. 

On the other hand Arlington is not possible.  There are two major freeways cutting through the center.  Tysons Corner is an emplyoment destination first with close to 100,000 employees and around 90,000 vehicles each day.  Additionally mall and shopping traffic is another issue.  For better or worse people have chosen the automobile this far out.  Additionally, most studies say at most 10% of trips will be via mass transit.  (I think Arlington is at least 33%)  Is it really practical to design a system that leans towards 10% over 90%

So is it possible to have both.  I actually think yes.  The reality is 123 and route 7 bisect the region and due to increased growth from Tysons to Reston to Ashburn and beyond there is existing demand for additional capacity.  This isn't even taking into account the fact that people come from as far away as MD, Fort Royal, and Fredricksburg to Tysons Corner on a regular basis and the growth of the region is going to continue for some time.

BUT there is ample opporutnity to develop the areas North and South of this dividing line into multimodal intelligent city scape communities. 

http://www.fairfaxco...
 

Ironically that's what this has become.  What should be the centerpeice of fixing NOVA's transportation crisis; has become another symptom of what's wrong.  Too much unplanned development, a build it now mentality, without any thought to long term consequences.