[sphinx]

Most people who live along the affected corridors oppose freeway expansion. People are getting tired of having their neighborhoods ruined when the end result of wider highways is to incentivize even more sprawl development on the periphery. The new housing will be built much faster than the new roads. The new roads will go to capacity the moment they open. The end result will be a continuation of gridlock, except that it will start farther out and take even longer to navigate. The wider freeways will just be wider parking lots in rush hour.

It is a fool's game to try to cram more cars into DC and the inner ring suburbs. There is no place to put them. We can build faster funnels in the exurbs, but drivers will still hit the same congestion as they approach the urban core.

The solution is to live closer to your job. The suburbs have to accept densification, especially along the metro lines. DC itself has already cleared the mental hurdles on this. We have gentrification on steroids, and everything new is being built/rebuilt with multi-use neighborhoods and multi-modal transportation in mind. If people want to live in Urbana or Haymarket or Stafford County, fine. That's their prerogative. But they need to buy a clue, and start to ride the train.

I have no idea if Amazon will bring HQ2 to the DC area, but if it does, Bezos would be a perfect imbecile to build another suburban office park and add to the sprawl and congestion. If Amazon comes here, it should commit to the city. If it's not willing to do that, go somewhere else.

[sitetest]

“The solution is to live closer to your job.”

That’s great. Work in Hyattsville, live in Hyattsville.

Until, for whatever reason, the job in Hyattsville goes away. And your only choice is to take a job in McLean.