You Won’t Get Sympathy About Your Long Commute Here

Photo courtesy of
’12th Street Corridor’
courtesy of ‘maxedaperture’

We all love to complain about our commutes here in DC, but what if traffic congestion isn’t such a bad thing? The Smart Growth Speaker Series continues on Tuesday the 14th with a lunchtime presentation at the National Building Museum on how transportation projects can be successful even if they don’t tackle congestion.  Ellen Greenberg, former Research Director for the Congress for New Urbanism, will discuss various ways to measure success in transportation that don’t necessarily make cars move faster.  It’s often difficult to get support for transportation projects if they can’t promise fewer traffic delays, but a lot of things that make good urban places (like narrow streets and pedestrian crosswalks and bike lanes) don’t really improve congestion.  The event is free and open to the public.

Shannon grew up in the greater DC area/Maryland suburbs, went to Virginia for college and grad school (go Hoos!), and settled in DC in 2006. She’s an urban planner who loves transit (why yes, that is her dressed as a Metro pylon for Halloween), cities, and all things DC. Email her at Shannon (at) WeLoveDC.com!

3 thoughts on “You Won’t Get Sympathy About Your Long Commute Here

  1. amen sister – how are people supposed to be pushed to ride their bikes (and therefore increase the need for bike trails) if there isn’t traffic to get them out of the box and in the saddle in the first place?

  2. We city dwellers need to understand the impact of development on our community and not be so focused on how to get to the freeway the fastest. And people who own cars in DC are sucker, unless they are willing to drive you to Rustico…

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