 | Phase II of the "Impact Assessment of the Virginia Railway Express Commuter Rail on Land Use Development Patterns in Northern Virginia" study
Northern and North-Central VirginiaAbstractYou finally have your share of the "American dream." You have a house in the Northern Virginia exurbs to get away from "inside the Beltway" congestion. You share the "bucolic countryside" and an exurban lifestyle with neighbors. You have two cars, at least until the kids become drivers. You have become part of the community. It is expensive, but you have gotten more housing value for the price than was available closer to the metropolitan core. However, it takes the incomes of two wage earners to support this "American dream." And the two jobs are not located in the bucolic countryside. One job is in Washington, DC, and another is at Tysons Corner in Fairfax County, Virginia
This is how the Phase I report of the "Impact Assessment of the Virginia Railway Express Commuter Rail on Land Use Development Patterns in Northern Virginia" begins. A lament to the everlasting desire of Americans to better their life, to pursue open space and quality municipal service, to escape crime and congestion. Only to find that we many times bring those very problems with us and lose the attributes of the countryside to which we flee. As we have expanded outward, it has been primarily along major corridors, in particular I-66 westward from Washington and the inner suburbs and I-95 southward towards Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Virginia Railway Express (VRE) commuter rail service was introduced in 1992 in Northern Virginia as an alternative to the only viable mode of transportation in the outer areas of Northern Virginia, the automobile. The Manassas line is along track owned by Norfolk Southern railroad and runs from Washington's Union Station to the City of Manassas, Virginia. This route is approximately 35 miles and roughly parallels I-66. The Fredericksburg line runs along track owned by CSX Transportation. It too starts at Union Station and runs to the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia. It is approximately 50 miles and parallels I-95. The introduction of VRE service offered an opportunity to take a long-term look at what truly is the effect of a new non-highway transportation system. Not the effect on the transportation system itself (ridership, congestion, etc.), but a look at the communities that are served by the new system, their desirability, value, time, density, etc. The U.S. DOT had expressed the desire to examine long-term changes in land use patterns which might result from the new commuter rail system by analyzing and comparing a beginning or "base" year with a subsequent study. Phase I was conducted by NVPDC for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in 1992 and developed baseline data for the years 1984 through mid-1992. In order to meet U.S. DOT's goal for a multi-year long-term study, the Phase I report called for Phase II to be conducted in five to seven years, in the 1997-1999 timeframe. The purpose of the VRE Land Use Study, as stated in Phase I, is to look at the potential impacts that introduction and implementation of a new commuter rail system might have on highway congestion relief, land use changes and local economic development. Northern Virginia provides an ideal setting in which to observe any land use and activity changes that might result from introduction of commuter rail into a developing suburban area. The reason for Phase II, as expressed in the Phase I study, is to identify those changes that have resulted from introduction and operation of the VRE. In addition, the Phase II study proposes to expand on work started in Phase I, by developing more quantifiable, empirical data and methodologies. These new methodologies will be used locally and nationally in determining the impact of transportation systems on communities and, in turn, those land use patterns that are necessary for the development of the most efficient and effective use of transportation systems. Previous Page |
