Here’s a roundup of posts and items about the Tysons Tunnel effort:
The most significant item is a column in the Washington Post by Roger Lewis, a practicing architect and professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Maryland. It’s title, Why Going Underground Makes Sense in Tysons Corner, says it all. Here’re some excerpts:
I have seen the full set of design documents — a whopping 786 sheets of drawings, a dozen technical reports, cost estimates. They are comprehensive and compelling.
To have a professor of architecture say this, is especially reaffirming to me. There is always the discomfort of having a set of cost estimates and engineering plans drawn up by an advocacy group. There are so many “studies” cooked up by groups trying to push their viewpoint that any advocacy-group sponsored study is instantly suspect in my mind, no matter how qualified the experts may be. Money is a strong motivator! So, to have an independent authority, such as this professor, affirm the comprehensiveness and compelling nature of these studies is very, very important. Of course, the Dragados bid and the offer by Tysons landowners to pay for the difference in cost were also great affirmations of the studies’ validity, but this sort of independent, voluntary, expert affirmation really goes a long way to quelling any propaganda discrediting the studies.
Gov. Kaine can find political comfort in one other piece of knowledge. For all the reasons cited by tunnel advocates, Northern Virginia voters overwhelmingly favor the tunnel option, as does an independent panel of professional engineers.
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For the governor, putting the tunnel back into play is not only a wise decision, it’s an easy call.
Next up is a well-written and interesting blog post by a student of UVa–an Urban Planning major. He starts out by invoking the message of his favorite Washington, D.C. statue, “Study the Past”, and applies that to the issue of public transit and specifically to the Metro extension through Tysons. Very interesting and somewhat authoritative, considering his studies.
Metroblogging DC gives a good synopsis of the Washington Post article that talks about Tom Davis’ change of mind in regards to the Tysons Tunnel.
Bado Blade brings out two good points in a blog post: 1. It’s not worth doing unless it’s done right. 2. Kaine is the only person still standing in the way of a Tysons Tunnel. Davis was one of the few other people with power standing in the way, and he never even had official power on this matter, but he has changed his mind. Wolf and Moran have punted and are pretty much neutral. Kaine is the only person refusing to do the right thing. It’s up to him.
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