Subway closes on Elm Street

The Subway at 4921 Elm Street has closed. Another Subway location at 7201 Wisconsin Avenue near Modell's remains open for business. The Elm Street Subway has been quickly stripped of signage. Subway announced earlier this year it would be closing 500 stores nationwide, as the sandwich chain lost business while stiffing customers by no longer offering the $5 Footlong sandwich deal.

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Montgomery County hasn't attracted even one
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METRO TESTING 7000-SERIES RAILCARS ON RED LINE (PHOTOS)

WMATA is finally on something of a timetable to restore automatic train control to its subway system, and the Red Line will be the first route to have it, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. In October, some Red Line trains will begin operating automatically, and all trains will do so by next March, according to the Post report. That long-overdue positive sign wasn't the only big Red Line news this past weekend. Metro tested new 7000-series railcars on the Red Line Saturday and Sunday, between the Twinbrook and Shady Grove Metro stations.

I caught one in action at the Rockville station on Sunday. The train was not accepting passengers during the test run. The 7000-series are manufactured by Kawasaki.

We simply must improve the service and reliability of Metro, if we are to even begin to manage future growth in places like downtown Bethesda, White Flint, Silver Spring and Rockville. Scarce transportation dollars need to go to the projects where they impact the most people, such as 8-car trains for Metro, more capacity on the Red Line (especially north of Grosvenor), and a new Potomac River crossing to relieve congestion on the Beltway and I-270.

NEW LIGHTING INSTALLED AT FRIENDSHIP HEIGHTS METRO STATION (PHOTOS) #WMATA #DC

Commuters found a brighter atmosphere at the Friendship Heights Metro station this week, as WMATA installed new lighting.

Whether it is new and improved is up to your individual opinion. As an unabashed fan of Harry Weese's design concepts, I have always been satisfied with the architecture and atmosphere of the subway system since my first ride decades ago. Whatever reduction in light has occurred since then, based on my reading on the topic, has been more the result of dirt buildup on the surfaces of the station interiors, light fixtures, and from dirt blown in from the tunnels. The indirect lighting has always been a distinctive feature, and critical to the overall design concept. Improvements should be consistent with that original design, not subvert it.

I'm far from the only fan of that design, as the recent uproar over Metro's plans to "update" the system's stations demonstrated. Weese was recently recognized for his Metro designs by AIA, which gave him its 25 Year Award. Like Earo Saarinen, Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer, Weese managed to turn utilitarian infrastructure into an art form. An experience.

The station designs are (we soon may have to say, "were") distinctive, elegant, modern, and - frankly - make most other systems look cheap and tacky by comparison. Some people want to water it down, and make it more like the bland stations elsewhere. To each his (or her) own, I suppose. Apparently, being a fan of the old design and "Metro brown" has somehow become an unforgivable political statement to some.

A political statement? So be it. The best art usually is controversial. Tacky is, well, just tacky.

But for Metro to make cosmetic updates a top priority when trains still can't run automatically, and stations are still being shut down on weekends, and workers still aren't safe, and escalators don't work, and...etc., is definitely not the best use of resources and time.

FRIENDSHIP HEIGHTS METRO STATION ESCALATOR SHUT DOWN (PHOTOS) #WMATA #DC

An escalator between the bus bays and underground landing at the Friendship Heights Metro station has been walled off. A modernization project will keep the escalator offline through July 19, 2014, according to WMATA.

SCENES FROM A SHUTDOWN: MONDAY'S METRO RED LINE DETOUR (PHOTOS) #WMATA

Heading from Bethesda to downtown DC was extremely inconvenient yesterday, as Metro did not run trains between Woodley Park and Metro Center on the Red Line. Despite it being a federal holiday, others still had to work. And the shuttle buses used for the surface-level detour were crowded - standing room only, as you can see in these photos. Rush hour weekday station closures? There's got to be a better way.

WMATA BEGINS REPAIR OF LEAKING CEILING OVER BETHESDA METRO STATION ESCALATOR (PHOTOS)

The leaks over a Bethesda Metro station escalator are hardly news to regular commuters there. But they gained greater public attention during the recent Polar Vortex, when massive icicles formed that threatened to fatally injure Metro riders before the escalator was taken out of service.

Now, scaffolding has been installed for several weeks of after-hours repair. Access to the station will be unaffected. WMATA says the source of the water is the property located above the station, and that property owner is making the repairs, not Metro.

BETHESDA METRO MEZZANINE ESCALATOR OUT FOR REPAIRS (PHOTOS)

One of the short escalators between the mezzanine and platforms at the Bethesda Metro station is out of service for repairs. Depending on whether you believe the sign on-site, or the Metro web site, it will be back in service in either February 2014, or on March 21, 2014. Flip a coin, I guess (but not while you're on the escalator).

GROSVENOR-STRATHMORE IS MOST DANGEROUS METRO STATION IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Is one of Bethesda's Metro stations really the most dangerous subway stop in Montgomery County?

According to transit agency WMATA's 2012 crime report, yes.

In 2012, the Grosvenor station was the scene of 34 "Part I" (serious) crimes. The specific crimes were not detailed in the report. Part I crimes can include assault, arson, burglary, homicide, larceny, auto theft, attempted auto theft, rape and robbery.

No arrests were made at the scene of these crimes, according to WMATA's report.

Grosvenor hardly comes to mind as a crime-ridden area.  And, in fact, a December 2012 crime report posted by WMATA lists no incidents at all for the Grosvenor stop. In contrast, the downtown Bethesda station had three minor incidents - 2 bicycle thefts, and an alcohol offense.

Yet Grosvenor was the only station in Montgomery County to make the Top 10 "Most Dangerous" stations in Maryland, in Metro's report.

It is also interesting to compare the Grosvenor crime stats to those of the Northern Virginia hot spot most oft-compared to Bethesda, Clarendon.

No Clarendon Metro stop even made the "Virginia's Most Dangerous List." The stations closest to Clarendon that did make the list were Ballston and Rosslyn. But even combined, both of those Arlington stations still had 14 fewer Part I crimes than Grosvenor. Most embarrassingly, Grosvenor had more Part I crimes than the "Most Dangerous" Metro station in Virginia, Franconia-Springfield, which had 32 to Grosvenor's 34.

According to Metro, your chance of being a victim of crime while in their subway system was about 6-in-a-million rides.

Do these crime statistics match your experience using the Grosvenor stop? Do you feel safe at the Grosvenor-Strathmore station?

I'm kind of surprised by this data, and welcome reader input on this topic in the comments below.

BETHESDA METRO ESCALATORS IMMORTALIZED IN PAINTING AT BOLOCO BETHESDA

With the escalators at the Bethesda Metro station having gone out of service last night for the billionth time, and the station set to be closed all weekend(!!) for more "repairs" that show zero results, I thought you might like this painting I discovered at the new Boloco restaurant at Bethesda Row.

Bethesda Metro station

The artwork by Boston artist Sean Boyce shows what life at the Bethesda Metro station is like when all goes well:  commuters traveling up and down working escalators, among impressive modern architecture.

Boyce says he was drawn to the Bethesda Metro station, when he walked around the downtown searching for landmarks to depict in art for Boloco.

He finds Metro to be "one of the most efficient subway systems in the country."

I love this painting, and the one of the Bethesda Metro Center that hangs next to it.

TIME TO TACKLE INFLATED INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS

COZY RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN 

POLITICIANS, UNIONS, CONSTRUCTION FIRMS 

DRIVING TAXPAYERS INTO POORHOUSE, 

STIFLING VITAL PROJECTS

One of the biggest arguments for substandard transit projects like Montgomery County's proposed BRT system, and not building needed highways is, "We just don't have the money."

That's partly true, because politicians keep spending transportation funds on the folks who donate to their campaigns.

But there's a fundamental flaw to that argument, and it came to my attention recently.

Reading about a new interstate highway in the deep South, that will extend several hundred miles through three states, I was flabbergasted to find that the ambitious project's total cost was going to be less than what Maryland taxpayers are paying for the few miles of the InterCounty Connector.

As a fan of underground subways, I wonder why areas like ours have stopped building them.  We're told that light rail (which I also like, by the way) is a cheaper alternative.

Initially, you might think so.  New York City is building a subway extension of 8 miles for $17 billion.  In contrast, Maryland has estimated the much longer Purple Line to cost around $2.2 billion as a surface light rail line.

But wait a minute, Toronto is building the 15.5 mile Englinton-Scarborough Crosstown subway line for about $8 billion.

Ironically, the ESC subway was meant to be a light rail line.  But Toronto Mayor Tom Ford wisely scrapped that plan.

Subways are a far more civilized form of urban transit, particularly in dense areas.  They help create world-class transit systems when stops are placed in the right spots.  Subways can arrive beneath destinations, whereas light rail can be blockaded by surface obstacles around buildings.  Consider the experience of arriving within the Verizon Center complex or Prince Georges Plaza, compared with remote outposts like the White Flint and Shady Grove stations.

And subways do not require all of the surface clutter and debris needed to operate light rail systems.  Not to mention that subway speeds blow away bus or light rail rapid transit.

We're unlikely to match the transit ridership rates of New York City until we have a system that covers the same amount of territory the Big Apple's does.

And we won't reduce gridlock until we build our master plan highways like the Rockville Freeway, M-83 Midcounty Highway Extended, the Outer Beltway, and the Northern Parkway.

Opponents say we can't afford to do it.

It turns out that's hogwash.

Why does it cost so much to build infrastructure here?  Besides nuisance lawsuits permitted by federal law, the driving force behind costs is our politicians' cozy and unethical relationships with all of the players needed to build anything.  Requiring not only union labor, but with an inflated wage, causes costs to skyrocket.  Design and build firms, like union leaders, give generously to politicians' campaigns.  And those politicians are equally generous with the taxpayers' money, approving design and construction projects with overinflated budgets.  And as we've witnessed with projects like Strathmore and the Silver Spring Transit Center, those same tight relationships seem to prevent elected officials from taking any serious, punitive measures to avoid cost overruns when projects go wrong.

While a project like the Rockville Freeway could be built for well under $1 billion under the current cost structure, it is well past time to tackle the outrageous infrastructure prices that are keeping our region from moving forward.  That includes sewer and utility improvements, too!  Even FDR believed that unions hold no right to bankrupt the public.

For Montgomery County in particular, it has been devastating.  It doesn't have to be.  We have the power to take action now to reduce the cost of building infrastructure.  What we need is the leadership that can actually take on this challenge.

WORDS YOU NEVER WANT IN THE SAME SENTENCE: "BETHESDA METRO" "ELEVATOR CLOSED FOR 4 MONTHS" "SHUTTLE BUS"

(Insert scream here)

Apologists for Metro's failed leadership team have another disaster to explain away:  WMATA sent out an ominous press release yesterday, which says they will be taking the Bethesda Metro station street-to-mezzanine level elevator "out of service for approximately four months," starting late this month.

Great news for a station that is barely usable anymore, with escalators that constantly fail.  Of course, in the Orwellian world of Metro's leadership, and their go-along-to-get-along fans in the press, that is calculated as "90% reliability."  Yeah, right!

Yes, we know that elevators need work over time.  But why did they wait until it required a full overhaul, and when the escalators are failing?

Free shuttle service will be available, WMATA says.  Riders who need a shuttle should ask the station manager, or call 202-962-1825.

Here's the best part: if the up and down escalators fail during the elevator's four-month shutdown, the Bethesda Metro station "will need to temporarily close for safety reasons."

How can you have a station in a major town like Bethesda be virtually inaccessible via escalators on a regular basis?

At a corporation, leaders get fired for a performance like this.

Metro is a great system, and it and we deserve better than this.

The new southern elevator entrance to the Bethesda station cannot be built a minute too soon.

NEW FLOOR-TO-CEILING ADS DEBUT ON 225 METRO RAIL CARS

A new Samsung Galaxy Note 5-foot ad inside a
Red Line Metro car at Gallery Place

WMATA and CBS Outdoor have launched new interior ads in Metro rail cars throughout the Metrorail system.  CBS spokesman Jeremy Murphy said Washington is the first subway market in the US to get the new floor-to-ceiling ads.

Murphy said the ads are the largest interior ads installed in Metro rail cars. The panels - a minimum of 5 feet in height - are positioned by the car doors.

The ads are now installed on 225 WMATA rail cars.  Samsung (Galaxy Note smartphone) and Drexel University (eLearning program) are the first advertisers to buy the new in-car ads.

Increasing ad revenue is one of the few actions by Metro's current leadership I can agree with.

The system needs more money, but higher subway fare is not the way to get it.

Have you seen the ads yet on trains running through the Bethesda Metro station?  With 225 throughout the system, there's a good chance you'll end up in one of those cars.  In fact, the ad pictured above was aboard a Red Line train.

Now, about those Bethesda Metro escalators...

IS MTA ROBBING THE

PURPLE LINE TO GET

MORE MONEY FOR

BALTIMORE RED LINE?

Connecticut Avenue, CCT Tunnel Latest on

Chopping Block as Projects Duel for

Same Federal Funds

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive!!!

Is the Maryland MTA robbing Peter to pay Paul?

The long-delayed Purple Line project is suddenly suffering a death by a thousand cuts. One bombshell drops after another. Politicians' iron-clad promise that the Capital Crescent Trail would be rebuilt as good or better was the first to go.

There are those promoting the light rail project who don't care how the rail or the trail project turn out; they simply want to develop the old neighborhoods east of downtown Silver Spring. Like the poorly-planned Metro to Dulles, it doesn't matter if people use it, it just needs to be there to give TOD zoning and density for developers.

Some of those said, giving up the trail-in-the-tunnel means getting grade-separation at Connecticut Avenue.

By the end of the week, the MTA had jettisoned that bridge, too.

First they put the bikes in the street. Now they're putting the trains in the street. Stop the train, I'll just get out and walk to New Carrollton!

It's strange that there are suddenly so many Purple Line surprises, and the grand bargain between transit advocates, developers, CCT advocates, cyclists, environmentalists and the MoCo political establishment is on the verge of unraveling.

Even stranger, why can't the public read these documents?

"I'm not ready to talk about that," the MTA spokesman replied to a councilmember's Connecticut Avenue query.

Well, considering we pay the salaries and for the preparation of these reports, we ought to be able to know the contents.

That aside, is the long-questioned strategy of Maryland applying for federal cash for 3 rapid transit systems starting to collapse?

The Baltimore Red Line (which I have supported for 6 years) price tag has gotten bigger every year.

In 2007, we were told it would cost $1.6 billion.

By 2010, it was $1.8 billion.

But some estimates price it as over $2 billion.

Labor costs are a major part of that, and Maryland (like Montgomery County) self-inflicts much of the pain with union labor requirements. This makes hefty capital projects even more financially terrifying. But it is self-defeating, because less projects get built, and ultimately, far fewer jobs are created.

The other big cost is from the underground section of the Red Line. I actually support that plan, too. The Red Line is one of the few - and possibly only - subway projects nationwide. Although it is light rail, rather than heavy rail like Metro, it will go under the busiest part of downtown Baltimore. It will also provide easy transfer to Baltimore's modest Metro subway system.

Of course, we were told here that, even though a subway made sense for the Purple Line once it leaves the Georgetown Branch right-of-way, it was too costly.

I would oppose changing the Red Line to an at-grade, street-running tram.

But I wonder if these big Purple Line cuts aren't being made to save cash for the Red Line. Montgomery County is more powerful in Annapolis today, but Baltimore is still No. 1.

The Red Line is arguably higher-priority than the Purple Line. It will connect the downtown with the high-growth (or, at least, what passes for growth in Charm City these days) areas eastward, such as Fells Point and Canton. It will also create a rail transit U-turn connection between Johns Hopkins' main campus and their Bayview facilities.

West Baltimore is another story!

Many residents there oppose the current Red Line proposal. At this stage, developers want the Red Line there so they can "redevelop" the area. Which means that - like Long Branch and Takoma/Langley, etc. on the Purple Line - current residents and businesses will be forced out by higher rents.

There are two more critical projects needed in Baltimore.

First is to connect I-70 to I-170 in the Route 40 corridor, and I-70 to I-95.

These are connections that have to be made to handle the truck traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore, after the modified Panama Canal opens in 2014. Truck tolls could be collected - some for transportation funds, and some for the neighborhood that I-170 passes through.

These funds could help keep existing buildings in good shape, provide small business loans to residents, fund scholarships to help young people become anything from chefs to astronauts, and help hire more police officers to combat crime. Nothing more needs to be demolished. I-170, called "The Highway to Nowhere," is a beautiful piece of classic urban trench freeway. It's there. Let's use it, not waste it. Allow it to generate cash that can be put directly into the hands of residents there, who have been failed by the city for decades.

I-170 can move West Baltimore forward. It can also carry the Red Line west to I-70 and the Park and Ride. Yes, it will go through Leakin Park. But Leakin Park is a highway facility. Moreover, if funds from I-170 and I-70 truck tolls help start and expand homegrown businesses in West Baltimore, I-170 will bring customers into the neighborhood.

I can't believe the Greater Baltimore Committee isn't talking about this, especially with the port boom nearly upon us.

It turns out that "Highway to Nowhere," once connected to I-70 as planned, is actually a highway to somewhere: a gateway to the American West, where I-70 terminates in Utah.

The other priority is an extension of Metro from Greenbelt to BWI, creating a rapid transit connection between the Washington and Baltimore regions.

I support all of these projects, and the Red Line. Baltimore needs a boost.

But doing the right thing in Charm City shouldn't mean weakening the Purple Line project here.

PRAISE FOR METRO,

DC STREETCARS

FROM

CANADA, EH

You think you've got it bad! Metro is in serious trouble. Endless track work will continue indefinitely, yet all the work done so far has yielded no tangible or quantifiable benefit discernable to riders. Stations will be closed again on weekends. Riders are returning to cars in droves, even as ridership rises in other cities.

Metro's solution? Charge more than it costs most people to drive for a daily round trip. That should win people over!

I still love our Metro system and its distinctive architecture. It is actually a real subway inside most of DC, which has become a lost art in transit. When did planners suddenly decide that underground subways were obsolete? They allow convenient routing through developed areas without demolitions, offer optimal station placement, travel faster than light rail, create no mess of wires and equipment on urban streets, and are protected from bad weather.

The fact is that developer-beholden politicians don't want to spend subway money, even as they want to facilitate transit-oriented-development everywhere possible. This is how you end up with BRT and light rail. And a Metro Silver Line with no parking for actual human beings who might use it.

So it's not surprising to hear negative reactions to a new subway proposed in Toronto. But you might be surprised to hear praise from Canada for the DC area's rail transit system.

A gent named Peter Witt responded to a comment section debate on a Toronto website with this advice:

"Try visiting Washington, D.C., a metro region the size of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) where they are BUILDING FIVE STREETCAR LINES IN A CITY WHOSE SUBWAY SYSTEM KICKS THE TTC'S (Toronto Subway's) (fill in the blank). Aargh."

Sounds like things could be worse. While advocating for completion of our highway and transit system, sometimes you have to stop and marvel at our Metro system and Capital Beltway: impressive achievements that apparently could not be built today.

VETERANS AND

TRANSIT

Last month, when writing about ridership on Norfolk's Tide light rail being twice the projected number, I suggested it might have something to do with the large military population there.

While most light rail systems across the country are successful, the Tide service is the biggest success so far (assuming planners didn't lowball the projections, which is unlikely, since low numbers don't win federal money). So the large number of men and women who have served in Germany and Japan, for example, might be one explanation for the above-average performance.

The reason I think this hypothesis is valid is that these servicemembers have experienced the convenience of the more advanced transit systems found in European and Asian cities. So when they return here, while our systems (with the possible exceptions of cities like New York and Chicago) seem quaint by comparison, they are more likely to give them a chance.

Further proof of my theory was found in yesterday's Core Values column by WTOP commentator Chris Core. He printed a letter from retired Air Force Col. Chris Krisinger, who had high praise for Munich's frankly incredible transit system. Noting the seamless mobility offered by Munich's S-Bahn (think the Purple Line or MTA Light Rail) and U-Bahn (subway), he underscored the need for convenient rail service to Dulles Airport.

Alas, the sensible and world-class layout described by Col. Krisinger ("the 's-bahn' train arrives at the airport in an underground station that brings passengers right up in between the two main terminals") has already been rejected for the Dulles Metro station.

In fact, the so-called airport station was never under the Dulles terminal, and that made the cheaper compromise station the right choice. Had the argument been over an actual underground station at Dulles, I would have written letters to editors and promoted that option here. Nothing would tell visitors that America leads the world more evocatively than rising into the airport itself upon an escalator from the train platform.

Ironically, Core's original column was boosting a Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority board member's idea of a smaller, Aero Train line that would restore the original vision by taking Dulles passengers from an even more affordable station further away directly into the terminal.

Given the fiscal and practical realities of the moment, that idea is a good one, but it seems to have been discarded by the board.

The truth is that Metro to Dulles is all about the Benjamins for wealthy developers. The stations have no parking, which means a massive portion of potential ridership will be lost from the get-go. The Tysons mall station... ...is not in the mall. That says third world, not world class. And the afterthought treatment given to the station theoretically the raison d'etre for the whole Metro line? These three facts speak for themselves.

So we won't have a world-class Dulles Metro system (but the skyline view of already-impressive Tysons Corner from the elevated trestle will be fantastic at night).

But Col. Krisinger's letter does offer proof of my theory - our military population, such as those commuting to BRAC sites like Walter Reed, Fort Belvoir and the Mark Center, are more likely to use transit than the average American worker.

The question is, can our politicians "grow up" and deliver the world's best transit and highway systems for the world's best men and women in uniform?