Comment box Scope: summary, information Tone: neutral, except a quip at the end Opinion: none really Sarcasm/humor: none archive Work is beginning on the Long Bridge Project between Washington DC...
Work is beginning on the Long Bridge Project between Washington DC and Virginia. This is an upgrade to the Amtrak/commuter rail corridor. The new tracks will significantly increase capacity and allow for faster and more frequent train service in the region. This will also improve Amtrak travel times for long-distance routes passing over the bridges.
The project seeks to add a new two-track passenger rail bridge that traverses the Potomac River. In all, crews will work to add seven new bridges, five of which are for rail. According to VPRA, these bridges will stretch from “south of L’Enfant Plaza across Maine Avenue, the Washington Channel, and I-395 to the Potomac River.”
The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority’s Long Bridge Project is a 1.8-mile rail improvement that will relieve one of the biggest rail bottlenecks on the East Coast. The project will improve reliability and expand capacity for both passenger and freight trains traveling between Virginia and Washington, D.C. The project will create a continuous four-track corridor between the Long Bridge Aquatic Center in Arlington and L’Enfant Plaza in D.C. It includes five new rail bridges and two new pedestrian and bicycle bridges. A new two-track rail bridge will be built over the Potomac River next to the existing Long Bridge, along with a new bike and pedestrian bridge connecting Long Bridge Park in Arlington to East and West Potomac Parks in D.C.
Project Benefits:
Increased rail capacity that enables more frequent passenger rail service with better on-time reliability.
Improved bicycle and pedestrian connectivity between
Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia with a new bicycle-pedestrian bridge that is wider, brighter, and safer than other options.
Billions of dollars invested in the regional economy.
Infrastructure improvements that increase safety and security along the project corridor
The total cost is around $2.6 billion. Thanks Joe Biden for the infrastructure funding. (No thanks to the current administration.) Construction is beginning now and will complete around 2030.
See also: the S-Line Project in North Carolina, which will really make it faster to get to Washington DC on rail from the south.
That's genuinely exciting! It's so weird to me that the VRE, which is a commuter train for the Virginia side of the metro, only has morning service and afternoon service during weekdays, and no...
With the completion of the Long Bridge Project and other improvements along the corridor, we look forward to expanding VRE service to include our first-ever weekend and late-night service,”
That's genuinely exciting! It's so weird to me that the VRE, which is a commuter train for the Virginia side of the metro, only has morning service and afternoon service during weekdays, and no service during the weekends. Like it's truly only for commuting to/from work. When I lived in Chicago or visited, I'd sometimes use the Metra, which is Chicago's commuter train system. While it's not 24hr service like parts of the CTA 'L,' some of the lines run all day from early morning to like midnight, including weekends. And even on the weekends, the Metra is well used by both suburban and urban residents.
As bad as the traffic is here in the DMV, even on the weekends, the VRE (and MARC on the Maryland side) should be running on the weekends to allow those who want to go into the District, or out of the it, the ability to do so without having to jump in a car and deal with the miserable highway traffic. I know Amtrak can serve some of that commuter rail traffic, but I don't think service is frequent enough. Which is fine for Amtrak since it's not meant for that anyway. The VRE should be taking care of that.
Comment box Scope: comment response, information, opinion Tone: neutral Opinion: yes Sarcasm/humor: none I agree, a well-functioning regional rail system should have service beyond traditional 9-5...
Comment box
Scope: comment response, information, opinion
Tone: neutral
Opinion: yes
Sarcasm/humor: none
I agree, a well-functioning regional rail system should have service beyond traditional 9-5 commuting hours. It's increasingly common for people to work at different times outside the "standard" workweek. Also, there are many non-work-related reasons to travel.
DC is fortunate to have a subway system with multiple lines running into Virginia (orange/yellow/blue), but the VRE regional rail goes to population centers much further out. It's important for that line to have more service in order to reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled in the area.
24h subway service is pretty uncommon because it makes farebox recovery harder - there just isn't much demand at 3am. NYC and Chicago are possibly the only cities in the USA that do this at any meaningful scale. However, having relatively late-night (but not 24h) service is still really important for VRE and much more financially feasible. Should be achievable in DC.
In an ideal world, DC/VA would build an additional radial train line to Arlington along Columbia, possibly to Annandale, and a circumferential line between Alexandria and Annandale (?) up to the Orange Line, and then to Silver Spring or something (similar to the IBX in NYC). This is a fairly densely populated area of the DMV and would benefit from transit availability a lot. The whole region needs a ton of transit-oriented upzoning though.
Comment box
archive
Work is beginning on the Long Bridge Project between Washington DC and Virginia. This is an upgrade to the Amtrak/commuter rail corridor. The new tracks will significantly increase capacity and allow for faster and more frequent train service in the region. This will also improve Amtrak travel times for long-distance routes passing over the bridges.
From VA Passenger Rail Authority:
The total cost is around $2.6 billion. Thanks Joe Biden for the infrastructure funding. (No thanks to the current administration.) Construction is beginning now and will complete around 2030.
See also: the S-Line Project in North Carolina, which will really make it faster to get to Washington DC on rail from the south.
That's genuinely exciting! It's so weird to me that the VRE, which is a commuter train for the Virginia side of the metro, only has morning service and afternoon service during weekdays, and no service during the weekends. Like it's truly only for commuting to/from work. When I lived in Chicago or visited, I'd sometimes use the Metra, which is Chicago's commuter train system. While it's not 24hr service like parts of the CTA 'L,' some of the lines run all day from early morning to like midnight, including weekends. And even on the weekends, the Metra is well used by both suburban and urban residents.
As bad as the traffic is here in the DMV, even on the weekends, the VRE (and MARC on the Maryland side) should be running on the weekends to allow those who want to go into the District, or out of the it, the ability to do so without having to jump in a car and deal with the miserable highway traffic. I know Amtrak can serve some of that commuter rail traffic, but I don't think service is frequent enough. Which is fine for Amtrak since it's not meant for that anyway. The VRE should be taking care of that.
Comment box
I agree, a well-functioning regional rail system should have service beyond traditional 9-5 commuting hours. It's increasingly common for people to work at different times outside the "standard" workweek. Also, there are many non-work-related reasons to travel.
DC is fortunate to have a subway system with multiple lines running into Virginia (orange/yellow/blue), but the VRE regional rail goes to population centers much further out. It's important for that line to have more service in order to reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled in the area.
24h subway service is pretty uncommon because it makes farebox recovery harder - there just isn't much demand at 3am. NYC and Chicago are possibly the only cities in the USA that do this at any meaningful scale. However, having relatively late-night (but not 24h) service is still really important for VRE and much more financially feasible. Should be achievable in DC.
In an ideal world, DC/VA would build an additional radial train line to Arlington along Columbia, possibly to Annandale, and a circumferential line between Alexandria and Annandale (?) up to the Orange Line, and then to Silver Spring or something (similar to the IBX in NYC). This is a fairly densely populated area of the DMV and would benefit from transit availability a lot. The whole region needs a ton of transit-oriented upzoning though.