jbhay

I'm moving to Alexandria in January and will be taking the metro from King St. to Medical Center for work. It's a fairly long haul, but DUH, not sitting in the Beltway every day to and from - that would be a nightmare and pretty stupid imo. I've been to DC basically every weekend for about 2 months now and have gotten to know the city and their lines much more than before. I'm looking forward to the only form of city life I can get right now. Also someone earlier posted about light rail on the outside part of roads and having cars in the middle? This past weekend I was driving down Benning Road towards NE DC and they are building tracks on the outside of the lanes. Looks like some streetcar action for that road

Yep, second time this summer! Great night. Ate at Kelly's beforehand, haven't been there in 5 years. I've barely been downtown (on foot) this entire summer, was definitely unaware they closed that square by TCC to make a student center. if i lived in ghent, i'd be downtown a lot more i think. eating/bars/etc. alas, moving back in with the parents was a cheap alternative. moving to Alexandria in January though! woohoo for NAVFAC rotations!

I'm with you varider, that sounds kinda silly. Walking in Norfolk is easy enough, it's not exactly a sprawling metro. But, the construction down there may be affecting some to and fro, so I'm glad they implemented something like that. How many people are actually using that though? It's just silly. Walk. I was at the NorVA on Tuesday night, and wow, Monticello looks real great right now, lol.

Glad we're finally talking about the Naval Base extension again. I like the idea of it going down I-64 since no one is using the HOV lanes anyways, I hate that space going to waste, the HOV is a great idea, but completely ineffective. NoVA uses theirs way more. But then, like others have stated, Ghent is missing out huge, and it HAS to go to ghent for this to work. that area is thrawling with people who would ride it and it just needs it. ODU students, young professionals, the typical demographics who would use it. not so sure how i feel about the streetcar idea. hampton blvd. would be tough though. congestion would be insane and there is absolutely no other detour. portsmouth residents who go to Base through midtown may as well forget going to work until construction would be done. or buy personal helicopters and fly to work. eminent domain everywhere too. then there's the idea of elevated. that would obviously jack the cost up, increase the delivery time. tunneling is not an option i'm pretty sure in this area, i was interested in why we don't do that a few years ago too. i'd love to be working with whoever is planning this and designing this right now. that'd be really exciting to me. but yea, utilize the unused I-64 HOV lanes for sure. oh and someone said something about wards corner redevelopment. by redevelopment, i hope you mean completely destroying every acre of property there and redesigning that area. from the first time as a kid there, to this day, it is one of the biggest eyesores in this region. i hate that place with a passion. terrible road design, unsafe, not pedestrian friendly at all, horrible parking lots and terrible architecture. it needs complete renovation, which means getting rid of it all and starting from scratch. too bad that will never happen. btw, the new LR cars are sexy.

I hardly ever venture into SoNo and the surrounding industrial areas, but I'm sure there is a ton of potential re-investment that can turn that whole area into a thriving urban environment. Makes me want to map out an ideal vision for the area! Anyways, ever since Ford closed up, does anyone know what is going on with the property at Ford Park? That is a ton of potentially amazing land to develop on and I was wondering who owns it and what the city plans on doing with this whole area. Also, there is tons of rail going through this area which will make for perfect TOD someday, hopefully. Makes me excited just thinking about it. I need to venture out to these areas with a camera sometime. In the Greenbrier area, they've cleared an area that's been forested my entire life on Kempsville Road right next to the railroad tracks (between Green Tree Road and Walton Road). I'm assuming it's going to be some small, unnecessary, suburban development, or maybe some decent medium-density apartments. It makes me sick thinking about spawning any new development like this anymore.

^ Good thought. edit: crap I hate when that happens, lol.

I'm so ashamed I don't know Portsmouth well enough. The few times I've been in their downtown, I've always loved the historic and urban appeal of it (reminds me of the layout of Old Town Alexandria, except smaller). The last time I was there was the 4th of July in 2007 and we took the ferry over from Norfolk. That's good to hear about their bar scene though! Since returning from college, I haven't ventured down to Norfolk much after work hours since I'm in Greenbrier, but Granby St.'s crowd has never really appealed to me. I've been wanting to check out Bier Garden for a long time too.

I've taken the Chinatown express buses that leave from VB (Pembroke area) at least 7 times. They drop you in Chinatown around 6:30am and are around $60 round-trip. I'm actually taking it this Thursday night to go there for the weekend.

Just out of curiosity, anyone know any possibility as to why Moran received most of the endorsements from the HR area rather than Deeds? Wikipedia shows most of the mayor's in this area endorsed Moran. Endorsements

My flight landed Friday at 8am and I went on foot for the remainder of the day until about 8pm when I met up some friends at The Paradise on Commonwealth Ave. First thing I want to say about Boston: GREAT transit system. My NFT I bought helped a ton, but the options are all there to get around. Did the Freedom Trail after wandering around a bit in Chinatown and the Common. Had pizza in Quincy Market, stopped off in Blackstone Grill for a beer, saw the Paul Revere House, savored the view of the Zakim Bridge, wandered through the Navy Yard (great skyline view), climbed the Bunker Hill Monument, then waited for Bus 93 on Warren St. to take me to the Sullivan Sqaure Orangle Line and rode that all the way down to Stony Brook, caught the 5pm SA Brew Tour - (great time, threw down 50 in the gift store ), then rode up to Roxbury Crossing to check out the Basilica Church for the Kennedy funeral, had another slice of pizza across the street from the church, and then rode to the Mass Ave. stop, walked to the Green Line Symphony station, transferred to the B Line at Copley, and rode that to Pleasant Street. Loved my first LRT ride!! (It was packed with students once we were in the BU area though, haha) I covered a lot of ground on my first day in Boston, a 12 hour expedition of history and alcohol. Great city, great times. Spent the rest of the weekend in Sharon/Foxboro and then was at TT the Bears on Saturday night in Cambridge. Never got to see Harvard... Will be back as soon as possible. Where else am I going to get my new favorite beer, Boston Brick Red?

After checking out the HRBT feasibility study, it's looks like Alternative 6 provides the best LOS at the lowest cost (still $3B+). Alternative 6 is the proposal of a high suspension bridge to the west of the existing bridge-tunnel system. I think this region could really use a beautiful bridge structure as opposed to the plethora of aesthetically dull bridges that are so common throughout the area and could serve as a perfect welcome to the southside. Too bad it can't be cable-stayed because of the huge span it would have to cover. I'll be making it a high priority to see our nation's widest cable-stayed bridge this weekend while in Boston, the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. As mentioned above by varider, I'm very excited that FIGG will be doing the new Jordan Bridge. That company has some magnificent looking bridges throughout the country. The president and CEO, Linda Figg, gave a guest lecture at VT in 2007 called Bridges As Art or something and it was really inspiring stuff for an aspiring structural engineer. Hampton Roads needs better looking bridges!

Thanks for clearing that up. VDOT clearly posted the feasibility study that I've overlooked. I was not aware of any consideration to that existing structure because of the seemingly difficult task it would be to re-align the highways from 664 to 564, not to mention the cost. Sounds almost like it's going to be the Big Dig of Hampton Roads in construction costs to me. You're right though, the HRBT is a major root of the problem in our highway network and should definitely be aligned with the recently expanded I-64 on the peninsula. I get so frustrated that this area hasn't boosted transportation capacity over the years while expanding development throughout the region. This is a whole new slew of information to check into though, very interesting indeed. I've been away at college for four years so I'm slowly getting back into everything that's been happening regionally, and as much as things have changed, there's a lot that's the same. This site is a big help, you all seem to know what's going on behind the scenes.

I read the study and understand that the IC's initial purpose is to provide better access to the Naval Base and NIT. I was merely alluding to the Intermodal Connector as being a necessary step in the proposed Third Crossing project, once the time comes for that. Also, it seems highly unlikely to me that there will be an expansion of the HRBT, except for future rail transit systems to the peninsula. High-speed won't need to run through that corridor. If anything, they wouldn't touch the HRBT until after the THRC is finished, imo. Glad to hear about the Downtown/Midtown/MLK process (except for the absence of rail). I accidently referred to it being part of the THRC the other day. I had been looking at the map where the proposed N-S highway along the east of Craney will connect with VA-164, which connects up with the Midtown Tunnel. I guess I was looking at our future of highway networks too closely! 3.5 hours from Richmond? Ouch brother...

I'll be coming to Boston this Friday for the first time, on my first airplane ride ever as well. Looking forward to just getting there and going exploring. This list is making me really excited about my trip now, especially the Sam Adams brewery tour. I'll make sure to stop there, as well as the Common, and I would really like to get a picture of that Bunker Hill Bridge on I-93 for the bridge fanatic in me.

Thanks for the above link for the Third Crossing project, varider. Lots of good information in here. It's funny to see how long stuff like this takes, as all the studies were completed in 1999-2000 and we're just now getting to the steps leading to the beginning of the project, highlighted in bold below. These steps started at the end of July, the construction crews have been out there and already have cones lining the temporary detour highway that will be built for Hampton Blvd. so that they can build the underpass under the rails going into NIT (horrible mistake, alas it seems necessary for this "Intermodal Connector" to be successful). While subtle and in its early stages, the Third Crossing project has surely begun. Hampton Blvd is going to be a disaster in this area when they undergo the detour switch. People in this area generally do not adjust well to traffic pattern alterations.

Thanks for the info. on the MLK/Midtown Tunnel. Even though that Midtown Tunnel expansion is technically included in the Third Crossing project plans, I was actually referring to the Third Crossing itself; the extension from the MMMBT to I-564. I'm interested in how that process is going. Obviously it's far off, but I'd like to know if I've missed any announcements about it.

The other day, I was reading over the Third Crossing proposal from Skanska that's been on VDOT's site for years apparently. Definitely saw that part about having the multi-modal lanes for rail transit. Does anyone have any information on what is going on with the Third Crossing project? The proposal had mentioned something about tolls being implemented on both HRBT & MMMBT last July, so I'm assuming something has halted the process of the project. I finally saw the alignment for the new system and didn't know an additional highway is envisioned to shoot north from the Western Freeway (164). Very exciting stuff to me, but anyone know how the project is coming along?

^ Definitely agree. As long as it goes towards funding mass transit systems (i.e. future light rail development). No more highways! Or we could fix the highway interchanges/entrance-exit ramps because that's the largest contributor to our region's highway network problems.

Great idea, Mobius!

Wow. I did not think of this. Hopefully all these utility projects where they're tearing up the roads are addressing this problem and upgrading downtown's drainage issues. If not, light rail may have some problems on a rainy day. The pictures of the flash floods on pilotonline.com today depicted unfortunate scenes like the ones posted above. Something definitely needs to be done about that.

^ Couldn't agree more. The starter line is going to raise so much negative public opinion, but you're right, it's just the start of the system. Once extended, this region will utilize it beyond belief. As many have stated before on here, just look at Charlotte as an example! I still haven't made my way down there to experience their service yet...or their city for that matter!

I'm going to go ahead and agree with you there. Norfolk is where it should end. Newport News has Amtrak service. I'd also like to say that my last post, in the HR Off-Topic thread, should probably have gone in here since it's more relative. Oh well...I'll try ranting in here more.

Sorry if this is posted elsewhere, but I don't feel like digging through the threads to find it. What is the new building directly south of York Street across the street from the Belmont, next to the YMCA, with the parking structure attached in the back?

I just organized a set on my Flickr account for Norfolk pictures. I took these all two summers ago when I was really into walking around the city with my camera. Everyone's pictures are really making me want to go out and do this again someday soon. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbhay/sets/72157621862930486/ Edit: Just uploaded a mega-post of pictures on that set. Mind you, they are mostly two years old.