by KTHW
The announcement of a tentative agreement to build a new arena for the Wizards and Capitals in Potomac Yard came with a statement that $200M in transportation investments would accompany the stadium and adjacent entertainment district. Since the PY metro station just opened, that got me thinking about how that $200M could best be spent on transit improvements.
-The low hanging fruit is to add the southern entrance to the metro station that was removed, and build a dedicated connection from the arena to the station.
-Another relatively low cost item would be to extend the BRT lanes through Potomac Ave
-Thinking a bit bigger, the state could look at converting Metroway to LRT and grade separating the existing dedicated busways to allow for higher frequencies and less conflict with traffic
-The one item I heard Sen. Warner mention is building a new VRE station adjacent to the arena. I think the only way this would work is if Virginia has finished building the 4th track between LE and AF, to include Long Bridge, and if VRE has the capacity to run ALX <-> WAS shuttles all day. If the state has the vision and the budget, it would look at electrifying the tracks it owns between WAS and ALX and turning those tracks into essentially a new Metro line.
-The low hanging fruit is to add the southern entrance to the metro station that was removed, and build a dedicated connection from the arena to the station.
-Another relatively low cost item would be to extend the BRT lanes through Potomac Ave
-Thinking a bit bigger, the state could look at converting Metroway to LRT and grade separating the existing dedicated busways to allow for higher frequencies and less conflict with traffic
-The one item I heard Sen. Warner mention is building a new VRE station adjacent to the arena. I think the only way this would work is if Virginia has finished building the 4th track between LE and AF, to include Long Bridge, and if VRE has the capacity to run ALX <-> WAS shuttles all day. If the state has the vision and the budget, it would look at electrifying the tracks it owns between WAS and ALX and turning those tracks into essentially a new Metro line.