When Jeff Buhl looks out his window, he hopes someday he’ll see a streetcar. Buhl, who lives in a townhouse along Columbia Pike, came to the ballroom of the Sheraton National Hotel on Friday to hear how likely that future is.
Planners from Arlington, Fairfax, the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Metro Authority held an Open House at the hotel on Columbia Pike on Friday, May 23, as an introduction for area residents to the Pike Transit Initiative. That effort, spearheaded by local governments, will conduct a series of workshops over the course of the year in hopes of finding out what kind of transportation Pike neighbors want to see running along the South Arlington avenue: streetcars, buses or some other type of technology?
Buhl knew his answer: “I love the streetcar-trolley concept,” he said. “I’ve been to cities where it works great, like New Orleans. It would be something unique — there are no other trolleys around this town.”
That’s the kind of talk Robin McElhinney wants to hear more of. McElhinney, Pike transit project manager for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority that runs Metro, worked to organize Friday’s open house and two public workshops earlier in the week. Over the course of last week, she and other planners heard from some 150 area residents, along with county staff from both Arlington and Fairfax, developers of Pike-area projects and the business community along the Pike.
Friday, McElhinney was listening in to public comments about transit along the Pike, hoping to work out the criteria that will determine what system will work for the corridor.
<b>SOME DECISIONS</b> have already been made about any transit system along the Pike. Whether buses, light rail, bus rapid transit or streetcars are the system of the future, they will run mostly along the sidewalks of Columbia Pike from Pentagon City west, with 17 anticipated stations dotting the route along the Pike.
Some stations would replace existing hubs, as at the intersection of the Pike and Walter Reed Drive, while others anticipate future developments like an Arlington Conference Center and an Air Force Memorial. Plans also include four possible stations in the Pentagon City area and three in Fairfax.
Planners anticipate a roughly 30 minute ride from one end of the line at the Pentagon to the other, near Leesburg Pike.
Over the course of the year, Metro staff will work with consultants and county government to determine what type of transit will run that route, and what kind of stations riders will find when they get off.
From what she’s heard, McElhinney said, there is one crucial factor: Keep the flavor of the Pike. “People want to see it integrated within the vision of Columbia Pike,” she said. “They want to hop off and grab some coffee at a sidewalk café.”
<b>THAT’S ONE SIDE</b> of the equation that McElhinney and others must balance in planning for the Pike. The other side, said Irene Ammann, is timeliness.
Ammann, 76, has lived on the Pike for 28 years, and has come to rely on public transportation to get around. “We can’t jeep using cars for everything,” she said.
She enjoys Pike Ride, the Metro bus service currently running from Pentagon City west along the Pike. But that service is still lacking, she said. One recent Sunday, she waited 45 minutes for a bus at the stop near her apartment.
Any future transit system will need better stations and stops, she said, and will need to run on a reliable timetable. “I have missed so many appointments,” she said, because buses did not show up at the scheduled time.
That’s another common comment, McElhinney said, as is the plea, “Don’t move our bus stop!” It’s a question of “local vs. the express,” said Kristin Haldeman, Pike Transit deputy project manager for Metro. “How to get from one end to the other quickly, while still serve everybody?”
The desire to keep a timetable while incorporating as many stops as possible will weigh heavily on planners, said McElhinney. “It’s a real balance to have an efficient trip time, along with wanting to be a circulator.”
<b>TIME MAY BE</b> a factor in planning the route, but it will not be a pressing matter in building a new transit system along the Pike.
“These are not the solutions that will be put on Columbia Pike in the next year,” said Roger Millar from DMJM + Harris, consultants working with Metro and local governments on the project. “Realistically, with all the necessary hoops to jump through, we’re looking at a project in five to 10 years.”
In the fall, Millar and other planners will present three possibilities for the future of Pike transit to the Columbia Pike community. “One possibility is no action,” leaving the current bus service in place, he said. A second possibility is some form of rapid bus service and the third is some form of rail along the pike.
Buhl knew which future he didn’t want. “One thing I don’t want to see is just regular buses,” he said. “I can’t stand the exhaust and the dirt.”