Arlington — Dear Arlington Connection
Arlington County has been fortunate that an earlier generation of leaders had a vision for the county that led them to fight for a Metro rail line underneath Wilson Boulevard. As a result, the Rosslyn Ballston corridor is an internationally recognized example of the best in transit oriented development. We are fortunate that our current leaders have learned from that transit project and have envisioned the same benefits for the Columbia Pike Corridor. If you review the vision established for the Columbia Pike Transit Initiative you will recognize the genes that it inherited from the fixed-guideway transit development on the RB Corridor. They can be found in Table 1.4-1 in the AA/EA. I support the vision of a livable Columbia Pike Community established to guide the Pike Transit Initiative.
I think that we are also fortunate that Arlington County has an outstanding professional transportation planning and development staff and an open and competitive consultant procurement process. We have working for us on the Pike Transit Initiative an outstanding project management and consultant team. These assets must not be undervalued.
Finally, this professional team has applied to the Pike Vision state of the art methodologies and processes including an extensive public participation program. These technical tools are not perfect. The requirements of the Federal Government have been at times ambiguous and always in transition. Nevertheless, in 23 Chapters and numerous charts, tables and other supporting documents the Columbia Pike Transit Initiative has delivered to us a transparent picture of the facts, the assumptions, the evaluation methodologies and the conclusions of the study. They have presented four alternatives for consideration by the county, its citizens and its political leaders.
I know what makes a livable Community. In my career with the Federal Transit Administration I have seen livability in the United States and In Europe. I have tasted it in the RB Corridor. I want it for my East Falls Church neighborhood and I want if for those who inhabit the Columbia Pike Corridor. I have participated in the deliberations of the original Columbia Pike Street Scape Task Force, and the Transit Initiative Community Coordination Committee and the Columbia Pike Implementation Team. I am persuaded that the Light Rail alternative is the only alternative that will bring livability to the Pike and achieve the vision established for the Corridor. And I am convinced that that outcome is worth the anticipated cost.
County leaders knew that an Orange Line in the I-66 median would not achieve their vision of a livable Arlington County and they knew that the Wilson Boulevard Alignment would. They did not let cost stand in the way of the right decision.
As a resident of North Arlington I am willing to pay the cost of the rail alternative even thought I will not benefit directly. I know that everybody along the Pike paid for my livable community along the Orange Line. Now it is my turn to pay for theirs along Columbia Pike.
Franz Gimmler
Arlington