COG 'Greater Washington 2050' Remains Subserviant to Anti Highway Doctrine;
continues subversion of inside the Beltway highway system
such as that undertaken for selfish Roman Catholic Church and Masonic interests

http://www.mwcog.org/gw2050/home.html

Greater Washington 2050 is a new regional initiative to improve the quality of life for Washington area residents in the next 50 years by fostering stronger regional awareness, leadership and action today and in the next few years. Led by COG and a coalition of public, business, civic and environmental stakeholders, Greater Washington 2050 will build on what many people now believe is an opportunity for convergence of agreement on big issues of growth, transportation and the environment. Greater Washington 2050 will identify actions that advance areas of agreement, assess progress and measure performance. In short, Greater Washington 2050 seeks to shape the future by supporting sound regional action today.

Sharon Bulova
Chair, Greater Washington 2050 Coalition
Chair, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors

From the comments at Greater Greater Washington:

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=4160#comments

In the very beginning of your post, you say the report recommends "a choice of transportation modes including roads, rails, bicycling and walking." Had you actually read the report, you would find ZERO recommendations concerning roads, other than the smart growth fantasy that by 2050 most people will no longer use them.

Nearly 90% of all travel are on roads, and it is not because we have not invested in public transit. Our region has the second largest public transit system in the country, and yet the second worst traffic congestion. Our region has constructed nearly all of the planned transit projects recommended in the 1950s, yet only a fraction of the highways and bridges.

I've read up on NVTA and Chase, who you attack for seeing the world as it is, rather than through the lens of your liberal Utopian ideology. NEWSFLASH. Most people in this region like their cars, and like that they can go where they want, when they want. And if you actually looked at NVTA, you'd see that they were one of the first groups to support dedicated funding for Metro, the VRE and a host of public transit projects. The difference is, they support highways too. They support ALL MODES, not just those that fit your narrow lifestyle.

Public transportation is important, and our region has done better than most in getting people on it. But public transportation will NEVER, no matter how much money we poor into it, replace the automobile. It won't even come close.

This report simply ignores congestion. It says we need to better connect regional activity centers, which of course we do, but only through public transit? That is just laughable. Things like bus-rapid transit need dedicated lanes, which do no exist and must be built. Yet, there are no recommendations to built dedicated transit lanes.

Building bypasses and things like the Western Transportation Corridor will not result in suburban sprawl in themselves. They can be built in combination with stricter land use, making the roads limited access without stoplights. It's not the roads fault that local public officials take a great highway like the Fairfax County Parkway and ruin it with stoplights every 100 yards. These new highways can also be built with dedicated transit lanes.

In short, all modes of transportation must be used, and ignoring any of them for the sake of ideology is simply wrong. And that's exactly what this report has done.

by Frank on Nov 24, 2009 2:15 pm