照片的作者。

更常见的抱怨地铁之一,尤其是增加客流量,是缺乏双复线市中心的地铁。上周,一组- - - - - -对位法贴子我和斯宾塞Lepler引发更多的要求表达歌曲GGW评论线程。

他们说事后是20/20,这正是过去表达批评。然而,如果我们考虑远见甚至在1960年代初才考虑地铁,我们应该鼓掌WMATA的设计师。当所有这些地铁的话题开始,资本的尸体运输的有轨电车没有更冷,交通规划者想建地铁吗?半岛手机登录

当然,虽然我们不能回到过去,改变的东西,永远不会太迟来改变未来。许多GGW读者要求表达银行跟踪。以极其漫长的旅行时间从杜勒斯市中心除了两条系统的不灵活性,你们中的许多人声称地铁只是重复昨天的错误。也许是这样,但是让我们回顾地铁的过去。

重轨系统在美国通常可以分为两类:现代和Pre-Auto年龄。

芝加哥l .作者照片。

Pre-Auto年龄:

巴特。照片由作者。

现代系统:

系统在每个时期的特点是非常不同的。克利夫兰的红线是奄奄一息的战前系统之前,近二十年来的地铁(城市)下降在美国。到了1960年代,规划者有大的想法如何振兴美国的大都市。1972年,巴特打开,第一个的一种新型的“快速运输。”的缩略词,特别是没有“地铁”的绰号,巴特是专为太空时代。和它的时间第一次石油危机。巴特和系统遵循的设计基于一个完全不同的比前面的地铁前提。现代系统,目标是给郊区通勤者的另一种选择开车。这些系统都与站之间的长距离,高速度,舒适的座椅,最重要的是,海在外围站停车。与之相反,早期的系统在设计时考虑到行人。站在一起,从而导致速度变慢,但达到更多的行人顾客的优势。这些系统有较短的汽车,为紧角落的组合城市设计。他们很少冒险进入郊区,几乎从不包括停车。七个早期(pre-auto)系统中,只有三个包括表达跟踪在他们的系统。最广泛的表达歌曲在于纽约地铁。那里,许多线路操作快递服务峰值方向或两个方向。在费城,布罗德大街地铁包括表达拖曳大多数其长度。芝加哥L提供快递服务紫色的线在高峰时期(红南贝尔蒙特的一小段)。这三个城市是最密集的三个城市在美国有超过一百万人。这不是一个巧合。的六个现代系统,只有华盛顿地铁客流量阈值接近表达(那么)变得具有成本效益的服务。看看地铁的同行。系统构建在1970年代(BART和玛尔塔)都获得一天大约300000乘客,1980年代系统(巴尔的摩,迈阿密)绕过60 k。的主要观点是,地铁比任何人想象的更加成功。它是例外而不是规则。让我们回到1960年代和70年代。认为大的头发。 Think disco. Imagine a Washington in turmoil, fresh out of the freeway fights that pitted suburb against central city, the feds against the locals, neighbors against neighbors, fresh from the smoke and rubble left after the 1968 riots. Already jobs were starting to follow residents to the suburbs. In America, cities were changing dramatically. From this viewpoint, Metro is an alternative to driving. It is not a way to redefine the way people live. It will never be able to compete directly with the automobile on the automobile’s turf. These heavy rail projects were a last-ditch efforts to save central business districts. No one expected any of these projects to rival the older systems. Think about the position in which these planners found themselves. Considering the three-state makeup of the region, it is amazing we even have Metro. The funding problem is perhaps one of the most complex in the nation and a four-track subway would have roughly doubled the cost of the system. Given that, had planners pressed for a four-track system, Metro would either be half the size it is today, would have taken twice as long to build, or would have been killed outright. The辩论我们有与泰森斯/杜勒斯银行现在是典型的例子。这个项目已经被分割在装饰方面,它仍然是不确定它是否会到达机场。第一阶段悬荡在尖端过于昂贵的自由贸易协定的标准,并多次项目看起来所有而死。如果事情像多余的电梯和熟悉的六角形瓷砖可能足以杀了这个项目,你能想象自由贸易协定的反应如果弗吉尼亚要求四个轨道?不。我们不能错地铁的设计师四轨录音机前面。政治的艺术是可能的,感谢他们辛勤的努力,与许多城市正在考虑重轨在1970年代,我们建立我们的系统。我们完成了。亚特兰大,巴尔的摩,洛杉矶和迈阿密没有充分实现其交通愿景。即使在这里的紧缩里根执政导致工期延长。 Metro was supposed to be finished by 1983, but it wasn’t actually complete for another 18 years. Not until the Green Line to Branch Avenue opened in 2001 did the dashed lines on the Metro map turn solid. With the second generation of Metro on the way, we have a chance to change things, but we can only do so much within the bounds of feasibility. The station bypass tracks proposed by some of you along the Dulles Toll Road solve some problems in terms of travel time, but they create others. And without major solutions in the downtown core, there’s little room for added capacity at the edges of the system. As I pointed out last week, many Silver Line riders won’t be headed all the way downtown, but only to Tysons. Metro was planned when Washington was fairly monocentric. But today, we live in a polycentric region with some of the worst traffic in the nation. As ridership increases on Metro, there is a growing need for projects like the separated Blue Line. Not only would a four-track Silver Line fail to meet FTA’s funding criteria, it would merge into a two-track Orange Line at East Falls Church. Perhaps it is inevitable that a new Arlington subway will need to be constructed in that corridor, perhaps not. But we cannot fault Virginia for leading on a two-track Silver Line. Two tracks is better than none, even if it’s not as good as four. Bringing rail to Tysons, Dulles, and Ashburn is a $5 billion prospect. That number is big enough without express tracks. It’s far too early to know what the future holds. Perhaps a Dulles Express will one day ply the rails in Washington, perhaps not. I am confident that as time goes on, we will reform our process. We can’t afford not to. But building the Silver Line without express tracks is not the end of the world. In fact, if our region takes the right approach, we will find that it is a valuable, useful addition to our transit network. Tysons could easily grow into a vibrant, walkable edge city. Perhaps in a decade or two express tracks will be being seriously discussed along the Silver Line, perhaps not. But I doubt anyone will regret that we built the Silver Line - something that would have been impossible if we’d insisted on express tracks.

马特·约翰逊自2007年以来一直住在华盛顿地区。他有一个计划从马里兰大学和硕士学位公共政策从佐治亚理工学院学士学位。他住在杜邦环岛。他是一个美国注册规划师学会的成员,和是一个员工的蒙哥马利郡运输部。半岛手机登录他的观点是他自己的,并不代表他的雇主。