Showing posts with label Baltimore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baltimore. Show all posts
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Obama Arrives
(Obama's motorcade races to Blair House)
At the end of a six and half hour railroad trip from Philadelphia, President-elect Barack Obama arrived in Washington, DC just shy of seven this evening. The city was teeming with the first of an expected 1.5 to 3 million visitors. After appearances in Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore, where Obama appeared visibly moved by crowds turning out to witness his historic journey to the capital, the President-elect rolled into Union Station in a 1930's era blue caboose. Obamapalooza caught the motorcade as it roared away from the station to Blair House, where the Obamas will be staying until Tuesday's inauguration.
[Thanks to Sadie Kadlec and Evan Brown for shooting and cutting the video.]
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Nasty, Brutish and Long
The Secret Service and DC Government released important inauguration transit information today.
All Potomac River bridges linking Virginia to the District of Columbia will be closed to private vehicles. The Arlington Memorial Bridge will be open to pedestrians walking into the District from North Virginia. All other bridges will be open to buses, taxis, limousines and emergency vehicles.
•14th Street Bridge (Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only)
•Roosevelt Bridge (Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only)
•Memorial Bridge (Pedestrians and Emergency Vehicles Only)
•Key Bridge (Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only)
•South Capitol Street Bridge (Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only)
•11th Street Bridges (Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only)
The Sousa, Whitney Young and Benning Road bridges across the Anacostia River will be open, though enormous portions of South East DC around RFK stadium will be used as tour bus parking.
Major vehicular arteries into the District from Maryland will be open to all traffic.
•Rock Creek Parkway (all traffic) – From Piney Branch Rd to Virginia Ave
•East Capitol Street (all traffic) – RFK area will be filled with tour buses
•Benning Road (all traffic)
•New York Avenue (all traffic)
To facilitate charter bus passengers and motorists lucky enough to find parking, the 3rd Street Tunnel will be reserved for pedestrians.
(Street closures and access points in downtown DC)
Meanwhile, DC Metro will open 60,000 private parking spots at park and ride lots in Maryland and Virginia, the Washington Post reported. The park and ride lots were previously reserved for charter bus parking, but after DC officials provided parking for 10,000 charter buses within walking distance of the Mall, those lots became available.
Lots and garages open 3:30 AM on Jan. 20. Parking costs a flat rate of 4$ payable only in cash.
Park and ride lots in PG County will be open at Greenbelt and Morgan Blvd stations on the Green and Blue Lines, and in Fairfax County at the Van Dorn St station, also on the Blue Line.
With transit points into the District severally limited, much of the city center off limits to private vehicles and parking likely to be a nightmare, inauguration attendees coming from Virginian suburbs are likely to face long waits and large crowds at Metro stations, while those arriving at Dulles and National Airports will be at the mercy of traffic conditions.
With no rail link between Dulles and DC, passengers arriving there will have no option but to take a cab or bus into the city. Traffic from Dulles is congested under normal conditions. Given the huge turnout expected, passengers arriving at Washington’s least accessible airport may spend hours on clogged roadways. Passengers arriving at National Airport willing to shell out for a cab may have an easier time than normal entering the city as bridges will be free of private vehicles.
Visitors arriving from Maryland face different challenges. Though major vehicular arteries are open to private vehicles, traffic will be horrendous. Congested under normal conditions, the multiple branches of the I-95 system connecting DC to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston will likely be gridlocked. Traffic inside the city will be no better and finding parking will be a miracle. Passengers arriving at BWI Airport have a choice of MARC commuter rail, Amtrak, taxi and bus. Though MARC will be closed to service Sunday Jan 18, MARC is running full service on the Penn Line, which serves BWI, on Martin Luther King Day.
Those lucky enough to have a hotel room, rented apartment, sofa or living room floor inside the District will likely have to walk several miles to the Mall and parade route. No word yet on expected weather conditions.
All Potomac River bridges linking Virginia to the District of Columbia will be closed to private vehicles. The Arlington Memorial Bridge will be open to pedestrians walking into the District from North Virginia. All other bridges will be open to buses, taxis, limousines and emergency vehicles.
•14th Street Bridge (Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only)
•Roosevelt Bridge (Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only)
•Memorial Bridge (Pedestrians and Emergency Vehicles Only)
•Key Bridge (Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only)
•South Capitol Street Bridge (Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only)
•11th Street Bridges (Buses and Authorized Vehicles Only)
The Sousa, Whitney Young and Benning Road bridges across the Anacostia River will be open, though enormous portions of South East DC around RFK stadium will be used as tour bus parking.
Major vehicular arteries into the District from Maryland will be open to all traffic.
•Rock Creek Parkway (all traffic) – From Piney Branch Rd to Virginia Ave
•East Capitol Street (all traffic) – RFK area will be filled with tour buses
•Benning Road (all traffic)
•New York Avenue (all traffic)
To facilitate charter bus passengers and motorists lucky enough to find parking, the 3rd Street Tunnel will be reserved for pedestrians.
(Street closures and access points in downtown DC)
Meanwhile, DC Metro will open 60,000 private parking spots at park and ride lots in Maryland and Virginia, the Washington Post reported. The park and ride lots were previously reserved for charter bus parking, but after DC officials provided parking for 10,000 charter buses within walking distance of the Mall, those lots became available.
Lots and garages open 3:30 AM on Jan. 20. Parking costs a flat rate of 4$ payable only in cash.
Park and ride lots in PG County will be open at Greenbelt and Morgan Blvd stations on the Green and Blue Lines, and in Fairfax County at the Van Dorn St station, also on the Blue Line.
With transit points into the District severally limited, much of the city center off limits to private vehicles and parking likely to be a nightmare, inauguration attendees coming from Virginian suburbs are likely to face long waits and large crowds at Metro stations, while those arriving at Dulles and National Airports will be at the mercy of traffic conditions.
With no rail link between Dulles and DC, passengers arriving there will have no option but to take a cab or bus into the city. Traffic from Dulles is congested under normal conditions. Given the huge turnout expected, passengers arriving at Washington’s least accessible airport may spend hours on clogged roadways. Passengers arriving at National Airport willing to shell out for a cab may have an easier time than normal entering the city as bridges will be free of private vehicles.
Visitors arriving from Maryland face different challenges. Though major vehicular arteries are open to private vehicles, traffic will be horrendous. Congested under normal conditions, the multiple branches of the I-95 system connecting DC to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston will likely be gridlocked. Traffic inside the city will be no better and finding parking will be a miracle. Passengers arriving at BWI Airport have a choice of MARC commuter rail, Amtrak, taxi and bus. Though MARC will be closed to service Sunday Jan 18, MARC is running full service on the Penn Line, which serves BWI, on Martin Luther King Day.
Those lucky enough to have a hotel room, rented apartment, sofa or living room floor inside the District will likely have to walk several miles to the Mall and parade route. No word yet on expected weather conditions.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
A Tale of Two Phillies
Barack Obama’s decision to arrive at his inauguration on a train from Philadelphia offers more than a rhetorical nod to Abraham Lincoln, who traveled to his 1861 inauguration along the same route. The Amtrak line Obama will follow January 17 on a specially chartered train offers the President-elect an on-the-ground perspective of how badly America’s infrastructure and working class communities have corroded due to decades of decline and neglect. Official appearances are scheduled in Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore and Washington – all once-prosperous cities suffering from a surfeit of institutional and social maladies. Symptoms as wide ranging as rusting bridges and rampant homicides speak to a civilizational malaise desperately in need of a corrective.
(Train yards west of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station)
For decades, while Wall Street and real estate portfolios ballooned with profits from nothing, working-class communities and the massive public works projects of the early 20th century have been systemically starved to the brink of collapse. DC saw its homicide rate climb 2.2% to 185 in 2008. Even though Baltimore and Philadelphia saw double-digit percentage drops in homicides this year, to over 200 and 300 respectively, murder rates in those cities remained several times higher than the national average. Wilmington set a city record of 24 homicides for 2008. Institutionalized poverty, failing public schools, a now decades-old drug epidemic, rampant divorce, AIDS, failing or non-existent community organizations, unemployment, underemployment, government corruption, and societal and governmental neglect all contribute to these appalling statistics.
(Philadelphia's 30th Street Station)
Perhaps nothing could be a better symbol for the decline of these four American cities than Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. Built in 1933, Philadelphia’s rail hub is a wonder of public infrastructure resembling an Egyptian temple. Then state-of-the-art steel beams enabled the building’s architects to fill the exterior walls of the post and lintel structure with windows, flooding the enormous central hall of the station with natural light. The arched roofs of the station’s trolley platforms are made of an interlaced webbing of steel girders. It is precisely the kind of building one would never expect government contractors to be able or willing to build, yet it was built four years into the Great Depression.
(The "Drexel Shaft" on the west side of the 30th Street Station)
Straddling the west bank of the Schuylkill River, the 30th Street Station sits in the heart of a sprawling industrial complex that at its heyday was a feat of American engineering. Now blighted with rust, its web of rusting tracks and bridges encircle the defunct “Drexel Shaft” – an enormous smokestack looming over the University City neighborhood – which once provided power and heating to the 30th Street Station and its outbuildings. The massive quantity of steel girders, rails and rivets, the esthetic care of the station’s architects, and the political will to push through the financing of such a costly public good during a time of economic ruin speak to the surplus of cultural wealth available in the midst of this country’s worst economic era. That that richness was left to spoil by an oligarchy of conmen and profiteers speaks to moral bankruptcy in desperate need of a bailout.
(Train yards west of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station)
For decades, while Wall Street and real estate portfolios ballooned with profits from nothing, working-class communities and the massive public works projects of the early 20th century have been systemically starved to the brink of collapse. DC saw its homicide rate climb 2.2% to 185 in 2008. Even though Baltimore and Philadelphia saw double-digit percentage drops in homicides this year, to over 200 and 300 respectively, murder rates in those cities remained several times higher than the national average. Wilmington set a city record of 24 homicides for 2008. Institutionalized poverty, failing public schools, a now decades-old drug epidemic, rampant divorce, AIDS, failing or non-existent community organizations, unemployment, underemployment, government corruption, and societal and governmental neglect all contribute to these appalling statistics.
(Philadelphia's 30th Street Station)
Perhaps nothing could be a better symbol for the decline of these four American cities than Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. Built in 1933, Philadelphia’s rail hub is a wonder of public infrastructure resembling an Egyptian temple. Then state-of-the-art steel beams enabled the building’s architects to fill the exterior walls of the post and lintel structure with windows, flooding the enormous central hall of the station with natural light. The arched roofs of the station’s trolley platforms are made of an interlaced webbing of steel girders. It is precisely the kind of building one would never expect government contractors to be able or willing to build, yet it was built four years into the Great Depression.
(The "Drexel Shaft" on the west side of the 30th Street Station)
Straddling the west bank of the Schuylkill River, the 30th Street Station sits in the heart of a sprawling industrial complex that at its heyday was a feat of American engineering. Now blighted with rust, its web of rusting tracks and bridges encircle the defunct “Drexel Shaft” – an enormous smokestack looming over the University City neighborhood – which once provided power and heating to the 30th Street Station and its outbuildings. The massive quantity of steel girders, rails and rivets, the esthetic care of the station’s architects, and the political will to push through the financing of such a costly public good during a time of economic ruin speak to the surplus of cultural wealth available in the midst of this country’s worst economic era. That that richness was left to spoil by an oligarchy of conmen and profiteers speaks to moral bankruptcy in desperate need of a bailout.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Towards a Final Tally
Guessing how many people will attend Barack Obama’s inauguration in just under a month is quickly becoming the most popular parlor game in DC. Backing away from previous estimates that as many as 6 million people could flood the city for the January 20 festivities, city officials revised their projections downwards in an article appearing in today’s Washington Post. But new figures of 1.5 to 3 million are drawn from maximum capacities of DC’s metropolitan area transportation infrastructure, not demand. In other words, the new figures reflect how many people may actually make it into the city for the swearing-in and subsequent parade, but not how many people may try.
The Post article reveals that original estimates of 4 to 6 million came from projected demand and did not reflect infrastructural capabilities. Much like the German army’s Schlieffen Plan in World War One – which put more troops in motion than roads and trains could physically carry – these early projections appear to have originated with haphazard reasoning based on little more than holding a wet finger in the political winds. While officials are cutting those estimates by more than half, their new figures do not account for what will happen to any excess of people who come to the DC area during the inauguration weekend but are left stranded outside the city due to insufficient road and rail capacity.
In an augury of just how little officials know about inauguration turnout, the Post story repeats City Administrator Dan Tangherlini’s fallacious reasoning that the final number can be estimated by accounting for Metro’s 1.2 million person capacity. Metro is not an indicator of turnout as a Metro rider must already be in the DC area to use Metro in the first place. How many people can ride the subway doesn't reflect how many people will try to come to the city. Furthermore, while suburban residents from Maryland and Virginia may use Metro to reach the inaugural festivities, the 1.2 million figure also accounts for visitors who reached the Washington area by other means.
Calculating those numbers is easier.
500,000 people are expected to arrive on 10,000 chartered buses – half of the total number of charter buses east of the Mississippi. An additional 500,000 are due to arrive at National, Dulles and BWI airports. 75,000 are slated to arrive on Amtrak. 580,000 people live in the District. 5.3 million live in the Washington Metropolitan Area. While these projections, drawn from ticket sales and bus charters, appear relatively stable, several important variables remain unknown that could radically alter the final attendance numbers.
Perhaps the most important is car travel. AAA told the Post that three-quarters of tourists visiting DC arrive by car. But with bridges closed to private vehicles and large swaths of the city closed to traffic for security, it is anybody’s guess how many people will try to drive into the city or to outlying park and ride areas. If anywhere close to the three-quarters figure holds true in this case, upwards of 3 million people could be stalled in gridlock on the complex system of interstate surrounding the nation’s capital. How many would-be drivers actually make the inauguration is anyone’s guess.
The next most important factor is weather. If January 20 is a clear, relatively warm day, hundreds of thousands of residents living within a few miles of the National Mall may walk to the inauguration, swelling the total numbers substantially. DC is a Janus-faced city. On the one hand, it is Wonkdom – home of legions of federal bureaucrats who live and breathe politics. On the other, it is Chocolate City – historically and culturally one of the most important black cities in America. In a testament to his political charisma, Obama has sent a bolt of electricity through both enclaves. Decent weather could bring out Washington area residents in huge numbers.
Finally, one must account for interest. While people who already purchased tickets are unlikely to scrap their plans, visitors planning to drive from east coast cities and residents of surrounding suburbs and exurbs looking at a potential meltdown of mass transit services may opt to stay home and watch the inauguration on TV. That decision is affected by a complex and fluctuating political energy. Obama attracted record numbers during his close primary fight and election battle. Inauguration turnout may measure whether the Obameter is already starting to settle towards a new reality.
The Post article reveals that original estimates of 4 to 6 million came from projected demand and did not reflect infrastructural capabilities. Much like the German army’s Schlieffen Plan in World War One – which put more troops in motion than roads and trains could physically carry – these early projections appear to have originated with haphazard reasoning based on little more than holding a wet finger in the political winds. While officials are cutting those estimates by more than half, their new figures do not account for what will happen to any excess of people who come to the DC area during the inauguration weekend but are left stranded outside the city due to insufficient road and rail capacity.
In an augury of just how little officials know about inauguration turnout, the Post story repeats City Administrator Dan Tangherlini’s fallacious reasoning that the final number can be estimated by accounting for Metro’s 1.2 million person capacity. Metro is not an indicator of turnout as a Metro rider must already be in the DC area to use Metro in the first place. How many people can ride the subway doesn't reflect how many people will try to come to the city. Furthermore, while suburban residents from Maryland and Virginia may use Metro to reach the inaugural festivities, the 1.2 million figure also accounts for visitors who reached the Washington area by other means.
Calculating those numbers is easier.
500,000 people are expected to arrive on 10,000 chartered buses – half of the total number of charter buses east of the Mississippi. An additional 500,000 are due to arrive at National, Dulles and BWI airports. 75,000 are slated to arrive on Amtrak. 580,000 people live in the District. 5.3 million live in the Washington Metropolitan Area. While these projections, drawn from ticket sales and bus charters, appear relatively stable, several important variables remain unknown that could radically alter the final attendance numbers.
Perhaps the most important is car travel. AAA told the Post that three-quarters of tourists visiting DC arrive by car. But with bridges closed to private vehicles and large swaths of the city closed to traffic for security, it is anybody’s guess how many people will try to drive into the city or to outlying park and ride areas. If anywhere close to the three-quarters figure holds true in this case, upwards of 3 million people could be stalled in gridlock on the complex system of interstate surrounding the nation’s capital. How many would-be drivers actually make the inauguration is anyone’s guess.
The next most important factor is weather. If January 20 is a clear, relatively warm day, hundreds of thousands of residents living within a few miles of the National Mall may walk to the inauguration, swelling the total numbers substantially. DC is a Janus-faced city. On the one hand, it is Wonkdom – home of legions of federal bureaucrats who live and breathe politics. On the other, it is Chocolate City – historically and culturally one of the most important black cities in America. In a testament to his political charisma, Obama has sent a bolt of electricity through both enclaves. Decent weather could bring out Washington area residents in huge numbers.
Finally, one must account for interest. While people who already purchased tickets are unlikely to scrap their plans, visitors planning to drive from east coast cities and residents of surrounding suburbs and exurbs looking at a potential meltdown of mass transit services may opt to stay home and watch the inauguration on TV. That decision is affected by a complex and fluctuating political energy. Obama attracted record numbers during his close primary fight and election battle. Inauguration turnout may measure whether the Obameter is already starting to settle towards a new reality.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Obama to Arrive in Washington by Train
Those looking for further evidence that Amtrak is the premier mode of travel to the 2009 Inauguration should note their fellow passengers: the Obamas and the Bidens. The Presidential Inaugural Committee released President-Elect Barack Obama’s inaugural travel plans yesterday.
Mimicking the last stage of Abraham Lincoln’s 1861 railroad journey to Washington, Obama and his family will board a chartered Amtrak in Philadelphia January 17. Vice President-Elect Joe Biden will join the Obamas in Wilmington, Del., from which Biden made daily commutes on Amtrak during his long tenure as a US Senator. A final stop in Baltimore will provide residents of Charm City unable to attend the January 20 inauguration in neighboring Washington DC a chance to cheer on the hugely energizing Obama.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee suggested official inaugural events will begin after the Obamas’ and Bidens’ January 17 evening arrival. Without releasing specifics, they suggested there may be an official appearance by Barack Obama on the National Mall January 18.
No word yet on how Amtrak travel along the Philadelphia-Washington corridor will be affected by security.
Mimicking the last stage of Abraham Lincoln’s 1861 railroad journey to Washington, Obama and his family will board a chartered Amtrak in Philadelphia January 17. Vice President-Elect Joe Biden will join the Obamas in Wilmington, Del., from which Biden made daily commutes on Amtrak during his long tenure as a US Senator. A final stop in Baltimore will provide residents of Charm City unable to attend the January 20 inauguration in neighboring Washington DC a chance to cheer on the hugely energizing Obama.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee suggested official inaugural events will begin after the Obamas’ and Bidens’ January 17 evening arrival. Without releasing specifics, they suggested there may be an official appearance by Barack Obama on the National Mall January 18.
No word yet on how Amtrak travel along the Philadelphia-Washington corridor will be affected by security.
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