Yesterday WUSA9 and WAMU885 ran stories about the glut of car parking provided at the McLean station, an issue that the Board of Supervisors has spent inordinate amounts of time trying to negotiate with land owners, at times giving up other bargaining chips to do so. The lot is empty, as we have been reporting, (#parkageddon) every single day and while transportation officials say over time that will change, it’s evident it was never the crisis that some painted it out to be. On the other hand, bike parking at the McLean Station (which for some reason these same officials don’t think will grow over time I guess) is nearing capacity and needs more racks and lockers.
It seems like someone at WMATA was paying attention to the bike parking situation as an official with the transit authority told Martin DiCaro yesterday that additional bike racks are in the works.
Woo hoo. A much needed win in what shouldn’t have to be a battle to get sensible and cheap infrastructure that doesn’t 100% prioritize single occupant vehicles.
Of course that victory was short lived as Fairfax County officials announced via twitter approval of another 100 space commuter parking lot serving the Tysons Corner station. They don’t seem to be noticing the fact that 600+ spaces are routinely still open on a station that is actually closer in to the core.
On top of the excess that is already available, this new lot at 7900 Westpark is actually much further away from the station than the relatively close, but empty, McLean parking lot (nearly three times as far actually). That of course is only if you feel comfortable crossing streets illegally and taking your life into your hands as you dodge pseudo-ramp right turning vehicles. What could go wrong?
These parking lots have only one positive; tax payers aren’t paying for their failures. As a private partnership the land owners are responsible for the costs. However, there are lost costs to us residents. Every minute (and there have been far too many in these land owner searches) the Board of Supervisors and planners spend on negotiating deals for these commuter lots is a minute that could have been spent implementing walkways, bike lanes, studying small interim solutions, negotiating interim walkway paths around construction sites so people can stop being forced into the streets, and a thousand other concerns more important to residents than parking at the Silver Line in Tysons. It continues to be a signal of the bellwether mentality that has plagued planning in our suburbs for decades.
The excuse that for the time being Tysons will remain auto-centric is a pointless statement issued in order to avoid real decisions. What impact to auto-centricity will putting in a few more bike racks have? If auto-centricity is still the primary design concern, then why is this parking lot empty and the bike parking so full? Why is life safety not over-riding the design goals of auto-centricity? And if auto-centricity is constantly used as an excuse for delay, then how can any real change ever occur?