Arlington County cancels streetcar project

WASHINGTON — Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette says the county is
pulling all funding from the streetcar programs on Columbia Pike and Crystal
City.

Citing political realities, Fisette says he still supports the plan, but can’t
go against the will of voters
who re-elected anti-streetcar candidate John Vihstadt to the board two weeks
ago.

The streetcar line through Columbia Pike was expected to cost the taxpayers
$333 million while the additional line in Crystal City was estimated at $217
million.

Vihstadt became the first non-Democrat to get a permanent seat on the
Arlington board in more than 30 years, largely related to his streetcar
opposition.

“Everyone said that Vihstadt could not repeat in the fall what he did in the
spring. He did it resounding with three times the turnout. There are only so
many times that they can tell you before some of you up for re-election have
to face those voters,” says Peter Rousselot, who led the Arlingtonians for
Sensible Transit opposition.

“We were unable to persuade a majority of voters that a streetcar system is
Arlington’s next generation of transit and that we could afford to build it,”
Fisette says.

Canceling funding means Fairfax County’s portion of the Columbia Pike
won’t be built either.

Vihstadt weighed in right away.

“I know that this decision did not come easily
for my three County Board colleagues, who supported the streetcar,” he said,
“but I applaud their concession to political reality and to the voices of
Arlington voters, who, in two consecutive elections for County Board over the
space of just seven months this year, endorsed our message that a streetcar
makes no sense for Arlington from either a transit efficacy or an economic
development perspective.”

Fisette says the Crystal City transit way route will still connect to
Alexandria
via buses.

Virginia Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne supported the project and
agreed to dedicate state dollars.

“Local support and input is critical for the financial and transportation
success of this project and in light of the recent decision, the state will
reprogram the funding that was previous allocated to it to other transit
projects in Virginia,” Layne writes in a statement to WTOP.

Fairfax County Board Chair Sharon Bulova and Supervisor Penny Gross were less
forgiving of the seemingly abrupt decision to dump the project. Gross
represents the small portion of the Columbia Pike street line that would have
been in Bailey’s Crossroads.

“The unilateral action by the Arlington County Board destroys 15 years of
joint effort to bring streetcar service to the Columbia Pike corridor, and
sets back transit options in this part of the region, possibly for
generations,” the two wrote in a joint statement.

“We believe that Arlington’s decision to end the streetcar project is short-
sighted, but the project realistically cannot proceed without the firm support
of the Arlington County Board.”

As for the money spent so far, Fisette says the majority of the investment
has gone toward the overall corridor, but could not specify how much has been
spent thus far on the streetcar project specifically.

“In the recent months where we put a contract out, we have had some explicit
streetcar related expenses. And the manager will figure out what those are,
but
they are small portion of the total cost of the project,” Fisette says.

As for opposition movement, Rousselot says the organization will now come
together and decide how to work with the Arlington board to find another
solution to ease congestion and revitalize the Columbia Pike corridor.

“We began our movement in January 2013 to educate the Arlington residents
about the concerns we had about streetcar. We are proud that the work has
paid off and the voters spoke up. We’re glad the Arlington board has finally
taken this off the table,” he says.

WTOP’s Ari Ashe contributed to this report. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.

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