Archinect - News

National Landing to garner $4 billion in transit projects

2021-01-22T11:33:00-05:00

The National Landing Business Improvement District (BID) in Northern Virginia has outlined plans for creating what it says will be the most “well-connected downtown in the country,” following its selection as home to Amazon HQ2.

According to Smart Cities Dive, National Landing BID has presented "several public-private partnership projects, with costs totaling $4 billion, that will improve transit in National Landing, outside of Washington, D.C., which encompasses parts of Virginia’s Crystal City, Pentagon City, Arlington County neighborhoods and the Potomac Yard neighborhood of Alexandria."

Department of Transportation Secretary threatens to shut down DC Metro

2016-05-10T17:35:00-04:00

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Tuesday he seriously considered ordering a shutdown of the entire Washington Metro subway system last week and may still do that if local officials don't follow Transportation Department safety directives. "We have the ability to withhold (federal) funds from Metro. We have the ability to shut Metro down, and we're not afraid to use the authority we have," Foxx said told reporters. "This is serious business."

"Local officials have yet to identify the root cause of incidents involving electrical arcing, smoke and fire, and so have no plan for how to fix the problem, he said."

For more on the dilapidated state of American infrastructure:

Waiting for the Washington Metro: A not-so-fictional tale

2016-04-27T20:27:00-04:00

The train will not come because the track does not exist, says the voice on the loudspeaker. You must believe as hard as you can. Everyone on the platform ignores him. Your belief is not enough. It has never been enough. Construction has just begun on the new Fuchsia Line, which Metro management says will solve all the system’s problems, and which is the only thing that anyone has allocated any funding for. It is entirely under water and plated in gold. It will be completed in 18 years.

Alexandra Petri of The Washington Post pens a maybe not-so-fictional tale about the “horrors” of the current state of the Washington Metro, which shut down last month.

DC in grid lock after unexpected Metro shutdown

2016-03-16T13:39:00-04:00

After officials announced that Metro, Washington’s subway system, would be shut down for 29 hours, riders began preparations for another problematic travel day in a city already well known for its cramped and sometimes dangerous train commutes. The controlled chaos began early Wednesday and will continue until 5 a.m. Thursday, affecting 91 Metro stations that provide 700,000 rides each day in the city and its suburbs.

DC residents took to Twitter and other social media to voice their frustration with the unexpected shutdown, which was prompted by an emergency inspection of some 600 electrical cables.

Residents have been left to face grueling traffic, delayed buses, or surge-priced Ubers. The Department of Transportation offered free, 24-hour use of Capital Bikeshare bike.

For other infrastructure news, take a look at some past articles: