Aerial view of Washington, D.C. Photo by adam79.
Editor’s note:
thecityfix.com is going local. Stay tuned for our online expansion, which will include local editions of our coverage in cities across the world, including Washington, D.C., where our offices are based.
Washington D.C. is the nation’s 9th largest metro area and for those interested in sustainable transportation, one of the most interesting. The D.C. area has some of the best and worst in transportation piled right on top of each other.
On the one hand, the D.C. Metro is one of the most extensive public transit systems in the country, having provided 215.3 million rail trips and 133 million bus trips in 2008. The area is a model for transit-oriented development, with successful nodes of development around many subway stations and a high density of LEED certified neighborhoods. On the other, the roads throughout the region are notoriously clogged with automobile traffic—the D.C. metro area has the second longest average commute time in the country—and freeways from the days of urban renewal still scar the city.
