As I write this we are reminded of Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech that changed the lives of millions for the better. Today is his birthday. King was a leader who died an untimely death at the young age of 39. About twenty years later, after King’s death, another dreamer, Ralph Stanley, conceived of a private road from Dulles Airport to Leesburg. Like the civil rights movement, a private road was a disruptive technology, inconceivable to some, and fraught with risk, but an idea that changed the world in which we live. I hesitate to try and connect my dream to these two great visionaries, nevertheless my thoughts are as follows.
There is problem in “River City” (Loudoun County) that begins with T. This problem has reached the front page of every local newspaper and even The Washington Post. The problem is Traffic and Transportation, and that’s with a “Capital T which stands for Trouble”, as Robert Preston, the Music Man, said.
The front page headline in the January 12, 2007 issue of Leesburg Today reads, “Traffic Choking HHMI Research?” This article tells of a meeting between the Loudoun County Economic Development Commission and the COO of Janelia Farm. Janelia Farm is the site of Loudoun County’s largest bio-tech venture, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The article reports that the business leaders on the County EDC were “stunned” by the report they received of traffic so bad that HHMI potential employees were turning down job offers, and scientists could not easily drive to the NIH in Bethesda where they often collaborate.
My dream is of a bridge across the Potomac and a road connecting Loudoun County Parkway. This dream is not new or unique. In fact it is as old as the Washington Beltway. Politicians have debated this for years. I believe the solution is a public/private partnership and the solution begins with T which stands for Tolls. A toll bridge across the Potomac connecting to a road that connects to the Loudoun County Parkway is financially feasible. It should be also politically doable. Why not another private toll road and bridge?
Friday, January 12, 2007
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This is an idea whose time already came, Jim. Had wiser government heads prevailed, we would have had the transportation infrastructure in place to support the Janelia Farm bio-technology park before the park was built. But you are spot on: Let's unleash the power of the market to develop this vital link to Maryland.
I have very little confidence in local, county, or state government to accomplish anything. So your suggestion that a public-private partnership undertake the Potomac toll bridge and roadway project is appealing. Why am I so cynical about government's capacity to provide needed infrastructure? News accounts from the past two weeks alone provide ample evidence: (1)Local government has prevented Leesburg families from sending their children to an elementary school located just across the street from their subdivision, choosing instead to bus the students to schools miles from their neighborhood; (2)County government is going to abandon its ugly brick Leesburg administrative offices, which are only a decade old; and (3) A state administrative law judge has ruled that high-tension electrical transmission wires be placed above-ground through an up-scale Leesburg neighborhood,inversely condemning the million dollar homes in their path. But the ALJ neglected to provide any compensation for the homes' devaluation.
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