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The Richmond Highway Round-Up
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Rendering of Embark Richmond Highway's Bus Rapid Transit concept (Credit: Fairfax County). |
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Richmond Highway Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Public Meeting |
The Meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the Mount Vernon High School cafeteria.
Fairfax County will hold a public information meeting on the Richmond Highway Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project that will feature an interactive open house from 6:30-7 p.m., a presentation at 7 p.m. and a continuation of the open house until 8:30 p.m. Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) staff and project consultants will provide updates on the BRT project, discuss next steps, answer questions and take public comments from the community related to the planning and design of the BRT system. Spanish translation will be available at the meeting.
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Mount Vernon Town Hall Meeting |
The meeting will be held on Saturday, February 2 at 7:45 a.m. at Mount Vernon High School
Meet local representatives, get your questions answered, learn about opportunities in the District. There will be a Community Open house from 7:45 until 9:30 a.m., followed by presentations, Q & A, and Virtual Tour until Noon.
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Richmond Highway Embarks on a New Era - Covering the Corridor has more: "Fairfax County's first bus rapid transit system; Metro to Hybla Valley; Mixed-use developments - some with buildings as tall as 22 stories; This is Fairfax County's vision for the future of the Route 1 corridor. The changes outlined in Embark Richmond Highway, an update to the county's comprehensive plan passed in March 2018, envisions a complete overhaul of Route 1 from Huntington to Woodlawn." Click here to read more.
Amazon Chose Two Locations for Its New Headquarters. Now, We Go Explore Them. - Andrea Sachs writes for The Washington Post: "Before mid-November, Long Island City and Crystal City were never on the same page, much less uttered in the same sentence. Though both destinations are on the East Coast (New York and Virginia, respectively) and within shouting distance of a major metropolitan center, they had little else in common. Well, that's no longer the case. After a competitive national search, Amazon chose the sites for its second headquarters, a coronation that will release up to 25,000 subjects into the cities' boutique coffee shops, craft cocktail bars and dog parks." Click here to read more.
Virginia Is Business Facilities' 2018 State of the Year - from Business Facilities Magazine: "Virginia has been named Business Facilities magazine's 2018 State of the Year. 'Virginia snared more than $5.5 billion in capital investment for its top two projects, and its top five job-creation efforts netted nearly 28,000 new jobs in a diverse and well-executed growth strategy that has made VA a high-tech force to be reckoned with,' said BF Editor-in-Chief Jack Rogers." Click here to read more.
The Richmond Highway Corridor Could Be Getting More Housing, Shops, and Fast Buses - Joanne Tang of Greater Greater Washington writes: "In March 2018, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the Embark Richmond Highway plan to bring more density to this eight-mile stretch of road that stems from the Huntington Metro Station. The revised plan aims to do this through medium and high-rise housing, more targeted retail and restaurants, and perhaps most importantly, a bus rapid transit (BRT) system." Click here to read more.
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U.S. Speculative Office Development Has Increased 44% In 2 Years - Cameron Sperance writes in BisNow: "Following the Great Recession, many developers this cycle have been hesitant to move forward on office projects without a tenant signed to avoid the mistakes of the last downturn. But some have changed their tune of late and say, to capture a new era of business and avoid higher construction costs, shovels need to hit the ground posthaste." Click here to read more.
Five Possible Scenarios For the Future of Coworking - Melissa Oyler writes for BisNow: "The coworking industry is gobbling up the office market like the Cookie Monster on an Ambien-fueled eating binge. As coworking activity continues to increase in the U.S., including doubling inventory in the past couple of years in major markets, industry experts and asset owners are beginning to study what the future holds for this fast-growing segment." Click here to read more.
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Assembly Could Jump-Start Northern VA Development, Ban Housing Discrimination - Max Smith has the latest at WTOP: "A new surge in development in parts of Northern Virginia could come next year under a proposal to overhaul 2016 proffer legislation in this year's General Assembly. The changes would remove restrictions on communication between developers and localities starting this summer, and could also allow additional types of proffers banned under the 2016 bill, which Northern Virginia leaders and some developers said had slowed housing development to a crawl in places such as Loudoun County. Other developers supported the changes as a removal of what they saw as unreasonable costs tacked on to their work." Click here to read more.
Company Seeks to Double Size of Apartments by Storing Furniture on Ceiling - Allison Nigel writes for BisNow: "As the space allocated to residential units has shrunk in an effort to create more affordable housing in expensive cities, the challenge has grown for how to fit life's necessities and some luxuries into those spaces. One company has a novel solution: Store it in the ceiling.This is not college-dorm lofts and ceiling-suspended shelves. Bumblebee Spaces creates units where furniture descends upon demand, leaving valuable floor space open and usable when the furniture is not needed." Click here to read more.
More Than One Million Americans Will Be Priced Out of the Housing Market This Year - Aly J. Yale writes in Forbes: "If home prices and mortgage rates continue their upward trends, more than 1 million American households could get priced out of the housing market. According to new data from the National Association of Home Builders, a mere $1,000 increase in the nation's median home price would price 127,650 households out of the market. If mortgage rates rise just 25 basis points - from 4.75% to 5%, for example - then another 1 million will be priced out as well." Click here to read more.
It Makes More Sense To Rent Than Buy, But Only If You Live Here - Jacob Passy writes in MarketWatch: "A majority of Americans are renting on the cheap - at least, compared to what they'd be paying if they bought a home. In more than half (59%) of housing markets nationwide - 442 of 755 U.S. counties - renting a three-bedroom property is now more affordable than buying a median-priced home, according to a new report from real-estate data firm Attom Data Solutions." Click here to read more. |
Richmond Shows How to Boost Small-City Transit - Angie Schmitt reports in Streetsblog USA:"Many cities are struggling with declining transit ridership, but Richmond, Virginia - population 227,000 - seems to have found a winning formula. Monthly ridership on Greater Richmond Transit Company is up 21 percent year over year thanks to one big investment, some smart planning and some policy changes - and with only a small increase in its annual operating budget." Click here to read more.
Engineers to Pedestrian: No 'Walk' Signs for You! - Angie Schmitt reports in Streetsblog USA:"Pedestrians won't get "Walk" signals at thousands of intersections thanks to a decision by a powerful group of engineers in Washington on Thursday. The National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices - which establishes rules for road signs, signals and markings - opted to not require the "signal heads" for pedestrians - signs that display the "walk" or "don't walk" signal - at every intersection, despite pressure from an insurgent group of progressive engineers." Click here to read more.
Hard Lessons From Baltimore's Bus Redesign - Danielle Sweeney reports in CityLab: "Soon after he took office in 2015, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan nixed Baltimore's Red Line project, a $2.9 billion light rail that would have served as a critical connector for the city's east and west sides. But for the city's beleaguered transit users, he also offered up a sort of consolation prize: a $135 million bus system reboot." Click here to read more.
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