BeyondDC
BeyondDC
@beyonddc.bsky.social
Urbanism & transportation, WashDC. Planner, professor, longtime GGWash. Trying for joy rather than doom & dunks; not always succeeding.
922 followers143 following578 posts
New York cut the ribbon on a Paris-style school street gate, allowing the street in front of a school to be blocked to cars daily. patch.com/new-york/wes...
La Sombrona?
🌟 Montgomery County (MD) Department of Transportation - Ride On riders now have brighter, comfier stops in Montgomery County, MD Government 7️⃣ locations just added Axel benches with solar lighting for better visibility at night & early mornings. ✨🚌 Energy‑efficient & no electrical hookup needed!
Giving away tons of city land for free is fine with Mendo though, as long as it's used for parking.
Exactly right. He is being told 500 million is too expensive for a new metro station and that spending 10 million on BRT is better and he says: "10 million? that's too much". Is anything low enough for him?
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I know America can build things quickly and efficiently because we do it for cars all the time. The slow, arduous permitting and construction processes we have for public transit, bike infrastructure, green energy, and housing are a policy choice that we are free to stop making whenever we want.
Toll revenue on I-66 & I-395 goes to transit. Do you want to be the person who manages that program? They're hiring. novatransit.org/employment-o...
After years of insisting it wasn't possible, lo and behold. www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/t...
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Baltimore map in the #WMATA style by u/BurmudaNiccholas at www.reddit.com/r/WMATA/comm...
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Replying to @chittimarco.bsky.social
In Maryland, the Dept. of Transportation can take land first and argue about the price later for highways, but for rail transit it can't get control of the land until the price is finally determined. This was a sizable factor in Purple Line delays & cost overruns.
We don't need to be giving New Yorkers this kind of ammunition to start misnaming our lines. Definitely prefer the two-letter abbrevs.
👆The signs above are just the first part of a six-week installation process! By the end of October, every sign inside and outside the station will be replaced with our updated design.
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Maryland's two most important economic centers are Montgomery County & Baltimore, and there's never been a direct train between them. Well, this'll be pretty roundabout. Hard to exactly call it "direct." But it'll be interesting to see if riders materialize. Fascinating experiment.
This is cool, @mta.maryland.gov is adding a direct train from Brunswick to Baltimore via Silver Spring. 2h end to end, and the train has to come all the way into DC to go back out to Baltimore. www.mta.maryland.gov/Brunswick-Ca...
The Tysons Sheraton—one of the earliest & most recognizable Tysons landmark highrises—could be demolished for townhouses & duplexes. www.ffxnow.com/2026/09/01/h...
Kansas Ave Red Line station would be an instant NoMa
If I had to pick one infill rail opportunity in the District it would not be on 🔵🟠⚪️. The correct NoMa analogy is the transformative potential of a new 🔴 line station in Manor Park near Kansas Ave! If this is about the stadium what’s needed is the Gold Line. If this is about TOD, let’s look citywide.
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Artist housing is the perfect nimby dodge, to the extent (in my opinion up towards 100%) that nimbyism is about protecting neighborhood social status. Art is a high-status, low-income occupation. Artist housing lets you claim to be inclusive while still excluding all the low-status people..
LIHTC projects generally required to be open to general public. But Artist Housing gets special treatment under LIHTC statute (Sec 42). Mostly due to lobbying by influential developer of artist housing, not greater need than other occupations.
E-bikes are a national security issue. theconversation.com/the-worlds-2...
It's because roundabouts require drivers to engage their brains and use mental energy to navigate, which is a bigger sin to cars-first thinkers than asking them to wait at a red light. Carbrain in the US is first and foremost about mental conservatism.
I have no idea why car-brained people like the Mayor want traffic signals instead of roundabouts. Do they just like waiting at red traffic signals? Or do they think that roundabouts are vaguely French?
Montgomery County putting up speed cameras in Silver Spring targeting drivers who floor it to beat green lights. Colesville at Georgia and at University. Two really dangerous places for any driver to ever floor it. Good! wtop.com/montgomery-c...
Rare situation where I think the answer is probably to convert it to limited access. ggwash.org/view/104582/...
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I'm sure people will get mad at @humantransit.bsky.social for saying this, but he's right. Campaigning on fare-free transit shrinks the coalition of people willing to invest in public transportation. It endangers transit's survival. humantransit.org/2026/08/an-i...
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Baltimore Ave in College Park needs a complete cars-last overhaul. Busway, bikeways, massive sidewalks, the works. Leave two slow lanes for local cars & trucks, and let the rest use Kenilworth Ave, which is faster anyway. Let the dense high-rise spine be an actual main street.
I would submit that there is no place in the DMV that has changed as much as College Park and the Route 1 corridor in the past 20 years, more than even DC or Arlington
A few years later when a different congress ends those grants, what will happen to the service they fund? It'll stop running is what. This doesn't just squander opportunities to spend that money on better service. It very likely mortgages the future. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/03/m...
State preemption is coming and localities have only themselves to blame.
Finally approved! 250 affordable apts 1/4 mile from Suitland Metro station! MD Housing Dept joined me in testifying in support. MD housing ombudsman Steven Palmer invoked new law that allows qualified affordable housing projects - like this one - not be blocked by excessive zoning regulations.
USDOT starting over on Union Station renovation plans. Throw out the old renderings. www.enr.com/articles/633...
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This was the worst Congressional attack on DC Home Rule we've seen, and Doordash admits they instigated. DELETE YOUR DOORDASH Account. Mobile: In the app, go to the Me tab. Navigate to Manage Account → Manage Account and enter your login credentials; then, select Delete Account.
Fourth, it’s funny DoorDash cites no hearings on fee as reason to oppose Guess what also had no hearing? Comer’s bill. Federal lobbying team trampling the state/local teams relationship with a jurisdiction over a 20-cent fee is wild. Good luck to them!
#WMATA modernization update with renderings of platform screen doors. Full pdf: www.wmata.com/content/dam/...