News and notes from Reston (tm).

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Our Apocalyptic, Traffic-Clogged Future, In Handy Bar Graph Form

Congested Future.jpg
Please to be enjoying the soothing colors of the data points on this fancy bar chart (larger, possibly legible version here) that shows the number of hours of utter gridlock we have to look forward to at some of Reston's most sought-after intersections -- including most of the spots you would imagine on Sunrise Valley and Sunset Hills Drive, where gridlock could consume as much as four hours a day once Reston's bollardy development is completely built out.

Earlier this week, the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force With the Unpronounceable Acronym (§) reviewed the results of a fancy transportation analysis based on the most pessimistic optimistic projections of residential and job growth -- assuming an additional 17,620 households and 43,000 jobs added in Reston by 2030.

But fear not! If the "full build" of transportation improvements -- including fancy "grade separations" (think cloverleafs), overpasses and underpasses -- is actually funded and constructed, the impact of congestion will be lessened, as seen by the fancy dark blue bars on the chart above. Just ignore caveats like this one:

Caveat.jpg

All in all, it's just another reminder that we need to push county officials to push developers to actually fund the traffic improvements everyone seems to agree will be needed to accommodate growth. Or maybe by 2030, it won't matter because the country will be bankrupt and we will have reverted to an agrarian, barter-style economy we'll all be going everywhere on fancy Jetsons-style moving sidewalks. We can only hope!

Jetsons.jpg

You can read the full report here, if you're into such things.

5 comments:

  1. And let's keep with the Road Diets to help even more.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peasant From Less Sought After South RestonJune 14, 2012 at 1:46 PM

    Instead of "bollardy development", as Restonian puts it, perhaps we should try steer new economic growth more toward culture. If, for example, the legendary Indian film industry would like to open a spin-off movie studio in the U.S., we could offer incentives for them to locate in Reston.

    We could then be known as "Bollyardwood".

    ReplyDelete
  3. Welcome Commuters to the new Wiehle Ave Metro! Reston and WMATA hope you enjoy your time in rush hour hell.

    A few tips for passing the time:
    - Watch tempers flare as you and hundreds of other desperate cube slaves are stuck in traffic on Soapstone Drive, Sunrise Valley Drive and Sunset Hills Road
    - Consider the exhaust fumes and lines of vehicles as signs of progress
    - Play "Suicide Lane Roulette" on "Road Dieted" streets to cut off your fellow commuters
    - Count the number of Loudon County Vehicle License Decals

    ReplyDelete
  4. I saw a study somewhere on one of the FFX County websites where about 40 percent of the cars using the Herndon-Monroe garage were from Loudon County. All of those people and the Reston, northern Oakton/Vienna, and "Great" Falls will be jockying for space on Wiehle Avenue.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's it--I'm gonna move to someplace where (1)I can choose the color of my house and shutters all by my myself, and (2) avoid Wiehle Avenue and Reston Parkway like the plague. I don't need to no stinkin' Metro anyway...

    ReplyDelete

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