Smart Growth: Necessity is the mother of invention, er, smartgrowth. Because of topography, Arlington faces a Faustian choice (or is it a Hobsian choice?) – either embrace smart growth or get paved. Either we do everything up to pissing on a spark plug, or those people in their mega mansions living on 40 acres past Dulles airport will demand that 66 be widened to accommodate their hummers. Arlington is the aggregation point of all Virginia traffic, and lots of MoCo traffic, into DC
MoCo doesnt need to embrace smart growth. They can just demand that NOVA put down more asphalt to accommodate their crossing the Cabin John Bridge and coming down the GW or 66. Say, arent the HOT lanes just about to go online??
Of course the end result is that we benefit from an increasingly fabulous walkable and bikeable community. And then everyone gets jealous of us…. and demands that we pave something.
