Like most state highway departments, the Virginia Department of Transportation takes a lot of crap from people like me. Successes bring shrugs. Failures prompt outrage.
But on Monday night, I saw something so extraordinary that I want to credit VDOT and their partners in the Maryland Department of Transportation who together are working to rebuild the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which connects Alexandria, Virginia and Prince George County, Maryland by crossing the Potomac River.
The Wilson Bridge is one of the busiest in America, carrying as it does I-95 through traffic as well as Washington area commuters. Needless to say, the old bridge was not up to the task. Indeed, it was literally falling apart before it was taken down last year to make way for the new span.
Before the old bridge came down, I commuted each morning from my home in Fairfax County to my office at the Center for Individual Freedom in Old Town Alexandria. And each evening, I went home again.
I was lucky. I was reverse commuting. But even so, traffic around the bridge was a bear. And in the evening, traffic approaching the bridge from the Virginia side was so bad that the delays routinely extended up through the Route 1 interchange and into Old Town Alexandria, where is would snarl things for blocks in every direction.
Since I last commuted to Old Town, the project to rebuild the Wilson Bridge has progressed considerably. The first of two new spans has been completed. And the Route 1 interchange has been largely rebuilt.
On Monday, I returned to Old Town. As I zipped along the Beltway, I girded myself for my fate: Sitting in Wilson Bridge traffic at the height of the evening rush hour.
But as I approached, traffic didn’t slow. At all. Even as I pulled off onto the new Route 1 exit ramp, no one was stamping on their brakes. Only when traffic reached the threshold of the new span itself did things slow briefly. The result for Old Town was a small miracle. There were no delays at all. The long snake of traffic down Gibbon Street and up Route 1 were both nowhere to be seen. There were delays at all. For someone who sat in that morass everyday for nearly three years, it was absolutely breathtaking.
It’s damned unusual that a major highway improvement project exceeds expectations, but this one has certainly exceeded mine. Two thumbs up to the contractors and engineers who dreamed up the design and are turning it into a reality.
One final thought: If, like me, you’re worried about global warming and want to get carbon out of the air, support projects like this one. Think of how much exhaust and other pollutants will never be emitted thanks to this work. It’s extraordinary.
Cam says: Well, today at 3:15 I had to exit at Van Dorn to avoid the traffic that began at Eisenhower Avenue. Thankfully I have Sirius, so I listen to DC Traffic (Channel 152) on my way in. It’s definitely hit or miss… some days I can take the Beltway all the way down to Rt. 1. But at least 2-3 times a week I’m still taking Eisenhower Avenue into Old Town.
What are government’s core functions? This is the philosophical question of the ages. There is no perfect answer. For my money (literally), government’s three most important tasks are (1) Maintaining the armed forces to keep up safe from foreign threats; (2) Exercising its police powers to prevent crime and maintain order; and (3) Building and maintaining the infrastructure that keeps commerce flowing.
So this story from Popular Mechanics (ht: Glenn, natch), caught my interest.
It’s no secret that federal, state and local government have all basically ignored infrastructure issues for about the last fifty years. So it should be no great surprise that our infrastructure is crumbling. Meanwhile, we keep asking government to pay for all sorts of extraneous crap.
It’s time to get off the dime and get this stuff fixed. That means getting our priorities straight. But we desperately need more roads, bridges, and rail, and we’ve got to fix the big stuff that’s out there decaying even as we speak. Traffic in big cities is already having a tremendous impact on commerce, and that’s bad for all of us. Not to mention the hours Americans spend stuck in cars instead of doing more important things.
So, note to politicians: grow some backbone, and get busy.
Jim’s post last week articulating 11 ideas that, he hoped, could attract support from 90 percent or more of conservatives and / or Republicans, was amazing. It was well considered and well presented. It’s taken me a week to respond only because I aspired — fruitlessly I suspect — to offer a response of equal thoughtfulness.
In this post, I try to respond to Jim’s offering as well as the thoughts of some of our commenters. (By the way, I would remiss if I didn’t thank the raft of folks who graced us with their thoughts on insights. I very much hope that you’ll continue to visit On Tap and contribute to our dialogue.)
Responding to Jim
First, broadly, I really think Jim is onto something. It’s impossible to build or rebuild a movement without ideas, and in particular, a set of ideas that bring us together. The Democrats have illustrated this rather well over the last fifteen years. It was only when they united behind their hatred for President Bush that they ultimately prevailed.
It seems to me that the ideas must accomplish two objectives. First, they must genuinely further the conservative philosophy. Second, they must be winners at the polls. In other words, we’re looking for ideas that bring us together while equipping us with a message that will attract voters’ support.
Finally, a history lesson. Jim’s work was based on the idea of the Contract with America. It’s worth recalling that the Contract included a handful of big, bold core principles with a wealth of detailed policy proposals. But it’s significance in the 1994 elections is almost always overstated. We should use it for a model only insofar as it accomplished the goals that I’ve set forth.
WIth that in mind, let me address Jim’s ideas in order:
Well, I know it’s been quiet around here lately, but tonight I’m making up for it with volume…
A little while back, I wrote, “before a political movement - any movement, not just conservatives - can use technology to promote its message, it needs to agree on what that message is. If one had to propose a new Contract With America, could conservatives formulate a list of ten legislative proposals that would get 90 for 9? (Meaning, 90 percent of conservatives agreed with 9 of them?)”
Cam and I talked a bit about this off line. I loved Cam’s idea of framing the list as “A Contract With Our Children” –evoking the “Contract With America” while turning around Hillary’s ever-present “it’s for the CHILDREN!” mantra for the right.
But after weeks of wrangling with what ten issues and proposals could get 90 percent of conservatives (and a big chunk of the public) to back nine of them, I’ve finally made up my list. Here’s a list of ten – first the principle or idea behind the idea, and then the policy proposal that grows out of it.
ONE. THE PRINCIPLE ON PROTECTING ALL OF US: We can’t guarantee that there won’t be another 9/11-style attack, but we can make it a hell of a lot harder for our enemies to pull off another one. After that day, we looked back and gasped at all the ways we were oblivious to the gathering threat, everything from unlockable cockpit doors to decayed intelligence agencies to wrongheaded “walls” between the CIA and FBI to an unwillingness to raid bin Laden’s convoys over civilian casualties to not checking who’s entering this country – seemingly a thousand and one mistakes, bad decisions, and policy blunders.
No government agency can watch over every street corner, every crowded public place, every cog and joint in our national infrastructure, every inch of our borders and coastlines. (Nor would we want it to.) But an armed and alert citizenry can.
Quoting Tom Ridge in the days after the attacks:
“I think we’re somewhat obsessed about getting x number of federal air marshals,” the former Pennsylvania governor said. “I think every single able-bodied man or woman, from this point forward, looks at themselves as a potential air marshal. .. Ridge mentioned the gallant passengers of United Flight 93… “That is the kind of personal resolve that’s magnified across 280-plus million Americans, that says to bin Laden and al Qaeda and all successor organizations and individuals, ‘You may threaten us, you may attack us, you may harm us, you may injure us, you may kill us, but you won’t prevail. You will not win, because every American will rise to that challenge.’”
ONE: THE POLICY: Federal, state, and local governments – as well as private organizations - will provide CPR, first aid, and firearms training for any American who seeks it, forming a civilian corps of “Minutemen” ready to respond to crises in their area at a moment’s notice. In addition, concealed carry permits would be encouraged in every jurisdiction possible. No one would ever be required to carry a gun or know these skills, but potential terrorists will never be able to find a population of Americans defenseless and unable to rise and confront a threat at a moment’s notice.
Being a barbecue snob is a little like being a wine snob. Either you get it or don’t. Either you feel passionately about such issues as beef versus pork and vinegar versus rub, or you think those who do are a little bit silly. (And if you think that you have a “barbecue” sitting in your backyard which you use for cooking burgers and steaks, you can stop reading this post right now.)
But no question about it: I’m a barbecue snob.
Barbecue is the ultimate regional American cuisine. I grew up in Virginia, and while there used to be a discernible Virginia style, it’s getting harder and harder to find, so on all of the great questions of barbecue, I find myself gravitating towards North Carolina style.
That means pork. Period. And, broadly speaking, it means a vinegar-based sauce.
It also means that I don’t understand people who like beef barbecue. I mean, I go to Texas, and I’ve had it, and if you had to, you could live on it. But given the choice between beef and pork, I just don’t understand how a person with taste buds could, you know, choose to eat beef barbecue.
Okay, I’m kidding.
Don’t tell anyone, but I actually really like Texas-style barbecue. And I’m especially into the delicious sausages that good barbecue joints in Texas make by hand. I also like Memphis-style, although I’ll never understand why folks in Memphis insist on slathering a perfectly wonderful pile of pulled pork with that thick tomato sauce. I can’t get into Kansas City style — which basically means beef ribs — because I just don’t like the mess. But that’s the point. There are about as many styles of great barbecue as there are little towns with smoky joints that have been there for decades.
Heck, even in North Carolina, there’s a schism between east and west. In the eastern part of the state, the sauce is pure vinegar with the chef’s inevitably secret mix of spices. In the western part of the state, they add a little tomato paste to the party and give the sauce a little thickness. Put me in the eastern camp, but as long as it’s vinegar, I can be happy with either.
Then there’s the cooking method. The best places smoke the whole hog over wood or charcoal. But many places — including my personal favorite joint, King’s barbecue in Petersburg, Virginia — just cook the shoulder or Boston butt.
Finally, there’s the presentation. Some people seem to like to eat their barbecue on a hamburger bun. I can’t abide this nonsense. Why would you want to fill yourself up on a nasty, tasteless, puffy bun when you could eat more barbecue? Then there are the folks who want their pork sliced. These people are usually from up north and just can’t be expected to know any better. But for the record, it’s the worst way to eat barbecue. There’s just no good way to slice pork. It ends up tough and dry, no matter how many hours the pit master has spent smoking it to tender, juicy perfection. Don’t go there. Instead, go with pulled or minced. Your barbecue will be moist and delicious. Trust me on this one.
Ready to eat? Ready to really eat?
Great. It’s time for a road trip. USA Today reports that the state of North Carolina has just launched its Historic Barbecue Trail. It’s “the brainchild of Jim Early, an attorney by profession and barbecue nut by avocation. The author of The Best Tar Heel Barbecue: Manteo to Murphy crisscrossed 22,000 miles of North Carolina blacktop researching his book. He at in 228 barbecue joints, 140 of which made it into print. But the trail pays homage to just 25 establishments that prepare ‘cue the old-fashioned way. They cook over open-pit fires, make their own sauce, offer sit-down dining, have been in business at least 15 years and, as Early puts it, ‘have the esteem of their community’.”
First of all, this Jim Early sounds like my kind of guy.
But kudos to North Carolina for pulling together this trail. It’ll be a great road map for people looking for the best. And it’s a great nod to the states culinary heritage.
As food becomes more and more homogeneous with the proliferation of chain dining, I hope more states and localities will follow the Tar Heel state’s lead, calling out and celebrating regional food traditions. In Virginia, that could mean everything from barbecue to ham to peanuts. Not to mention Brunswick stew. (Which originated in Brunswick County, Virginia — not the eponymous county in Georgia.) But there are similar local distinctions in every corner of the nation. Burgoo in Kentucky. Grits in the tidewater of South Carolina. Chili in west Texas. The list is as long as it is varied.
And then, the burden is on us. When we eat out, we ought to make an effort to eat in the local joints that are owned and operated by our neighbors, not some commercial conglomerate. And when we travel, seek out the local places and avoid the boring chains that you can visit in every city and town in America.
And if you’re in the south, and you look hard enough, there’s a great place to enjoy barbecue in almost every town.
Jim: I’m not quite the fanatic/pro that Marshall is, but I’ll just throw in that I’ve always liked Old Glory’s method of providing six variations of barbecue sauce at the table. Because once you’ve tried them all, you do begin to understand the variety and regional tastes…
Cam: I’m not a big fan of barbeque (I absolutely hate getting messy while I eat, unless my hands are getting covered with lobster juices), and North Carolina-style has been a hard sell for me. Growing up in Oklahoma City, you typically get either Kansas City or Memphis-style barbeque. The vinegar-based barbeque just takes some getting used to, and I haven’t eaten enough of it to aquire the taste.
When I’m on the road, waiting for planes and sitting on tarmacs and taxi-ways means reading USA Today more than I usually do.
Which is how I came upon an op/ed in Wednesday’s edition by John Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration, titled, “The New Space Race.”
NASA has been a favorite punching bag of politicians, pundits and special interest groups. Some scry a lack of devotion to fighting global warming — controversy assisted recently by NASA chief Michael Griffin’s comment that he was not sure it was ‘a problem we must wrestle with.’ Others see in NASA’s commitment to manned space exploration a misplaced romaticism, while still others deplore a lack of emphasis on basic science. The question of whether we will remain in a leader in the exploration of space exploration, however, if too important to leave to special interest groups or pundits.
Lehman goes on to detail Chinese, Japanese, and Indian efforts to get into space, and the important objectives that each nation hopes to accomplish. He argues that American leadership in space is at serious risk and makes a compelling case that returning to the moon and reclaiming our leadership has crucial technical and commercial benefits.
I’m sold.
Not too long ago, I had the chance to visit Kennedy Space Center in Florida. While there, I attended a briefing from a NASA official on the future of the U.S. manned space program. With only a few missions left before the Shuttle fleet is retired, NASA is planning a return to old-fashioned rocketry for its new moon program. But between the shuttles’ retirement and the eventual roll out of the new rocket fleet, there will be a period of several years where the U.S. will have no vehicle for manned space flight.
My fear is that we never will again. Once the regular manned flights stop, I fear that NASA opponents in Congress will succeed in permanently scuttling our manned space program.
There are countless compelling arguments in favor of the American space program. Lehman presents a number. There are others. And in this age where it seems that the government can funding for every conceivable program, it’s shameful that NASA has to crawl on its knees every year to avoid further cuts. It’s time for us to get serious. NASA engineers bested President Kennedy’s goal of putting a man on the moon in ten years with ingenuity and attitude.
To be sure, as Lehman observes, “The drive to explore the moon today is different from the Cold War sprint that ended when Armstrong descended to the Sea of Tranquility in 1969.” But the drive should still be there. The potential benefits are limitless, including the most important benefit of all — the expansion of human knowledge and understanding of our universe. Let’s go.
Cam: 20 years ago, I wanted to be an astronaut. And because my mom is a kind and loving mom, she actually sent me to SpaceCamp in Huntsville, Alabama for a week. I had a blast. In fact, I had so much fun and learned so much that she sent me back the next year.
Eventually, as I got older, I realized that I did not have the science and math proficiency to become an astronaut. But I’ve always had a soft spot for manned space programs, and I’d love to see a return to the Moon. I’d love to see a mission to Mars even more, because it seems like going back to the Moon is kind of re-inventing the wheel… but then again, maybe the wheel does need to be re-invented.
Regardless, I can’t imagine not having a manned space program in this country. I think it’s appalling that it’s even a possibility.
Marshall: When I wrote this yesterday on the plane, I completely forgot that the Space Shuttle Atlantis was scheduled to go into space last night. It did, indeed, lift off on time and is now chasing down the International Space Station.
Jim: Hey, why is it all that different from the Cold War era? Could you come up with a clearer canary-in-the-coal-mine symbol of American decline than the idea that we have left manned exploration of space to the Indians and Chinese? If you were a young aspring astronaut like Cam was– a great engineering mind from any country — would you rather work at NASA, or in the Chinese, Indian, Japanese or other space agency that is still sending people up there? Would you rather operate a Mars Rover by joystick, or risk everything for a shot at glory at being the first man or woman to step onto another planet?
(Having said that, the private development of space travel is growing by leaps and bounds. Maybe American private industry and space tourism will lead mankind’s steps into the final frontier…)
However, let me acknowledge that perhaps I have underestimated NASA’s accomplishments in recent years. As Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee asked in a visit to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “Did the Mars Pathfinder probe manage to photograph the flag that astronaut Neil Armstrong had left behind?”
Twelve aspects of American life - particulary, Washington D.C. and its surrounding suburbs — that have changed in my absence…
1) When I left, the D.C. Metro system was in the process of installing electronic platform signs. That system is now complete, and tells me the scheduled arrival of Metro trains in some alternate dimension, because it rarely if ever aligns with the arrival of the trains at the station I’m at.
2) When I left, every other Metro escalator was broken. Now… okay, that’s pretty much the same.
3) Everyone has an Ipod.
4) Everyone has a PDA, and is addicted to it. It seems like very few people carry a laptop computer.
5) D.C. has a baseball team… that wants 20 bucks a ticket to watch one of the all-time most painful rebuilding seasons.
6) My local Harris Teeter appears to have roughly eighty different kinds of mustard. The prices at Harris Teeter are high, but I can usually balance that out from all the free samples they offer.
7) I now have a stunning variety of cable channels and shows on-demand. And there ain’t %#$^% on that I want to watch. The price of flat-screen televisions is strikingly inexpensive compared to a few years ago, but before I make the expense, I have to ask myself, just what am I going to watch that I need the big screen for? Law and Order episodes? Yeah, Jack McCoy’s self-righteousness loses its nuance on the smaller screen.
On a related note, if you click through the channels, and you hear the phrase, “Is that how it happened when you raped her?” in an accusatory tone, there’s a 99.8 percent chance you’re watching an episode of “Law and Order: SVU.” Also, “We found the bucket of severed ring fingers and pigtails over here, Lieutenant.”
There’s now vitamin-infused Coke. If I’m drinking a Coke, I’ve pretty much decided that I’m not interested in vitamins.
9) What the hell happened to George Michael? I’m used to a ludicriously over-the-top homer with a combover doing the sports, the kind of man who would say, “Last night’s thrilling 9 to 6 overtime win over the Houston Texans, a fantastic start in the first preseason game, has everyone at Redskins Park saying the same thing: This is our year to win the Super Bowl.” Now I’ve got some perky young blonde woman. Thank God Jim Vance and Doreen Gentzler are still there to do the local news.
10) Tony Kornheiser doesn’t write a column anymore, but the Post transcribes bits of his show with Wilbon. Talk about phoning it in. Great. No more of his sports columns, which were actually funny, and more of his wocka-wocka Fozzie Bear schtick on Monday Night Football.
11) Cam, you would know this - any local talk radio besides Washington Post radio?
12) There’s a schlocky done-in-twenty-minutes-with-a-budget-of-four-dollars-and-eighty-cents horror movie coming out every week.
Marshall: Wow. Great post, Jim. It’s amazing how much things have changed around here in just the couple of years you’ve been gone. Mind if add a couple?
13) One of the greatest restaurants on the east coast — the Labratorio del Galileo — is closed while its building is razed and rebuilt.
14) There’s a new director and a new panda at the national zoo, and the zoo is poised for a remarkable turnaround after several years of tough times.
15) The Democrats control Congress. But the less said about that, the better.
16) The old Wilson Bridge was brought down by explosive charges, not careening traffic, and one of the two spans of the new bridge is now complete.
17) The Air Force Memorial, sitting atop a ridge overlooking the Pentagon, officially opened to the public.
18) The Redskins suck. Oh. Wait. Nevermind.
19) The Washington Capitals… Oh. Wait. Nevermind.
20) National Review has expanded its lineup of three or four blogs to something approaching a million.
21) The massive new addition to Tyson’s Corner Center opened, complete with movie theater and food court.
22) Katie Couric took over the anchor desk at CBS and promptly returned the network’s flagship evening newscast to the cellar where it belongs.
Cam: Local talk radio? I think Michael Graham might still be doing his show on WMAL, but honestly I haven’t listened.
I think there’ve been a coupel of other changes since you left… I have two more kids now. And a dog. You can actually have the dog as a housewarming present if you’d like.
Let’s see… other new things…
- Red Zebra broadcasting. I hate the fact that ESPN radio is all static-y now.
- Wegman’s has moved into the area (and is worth the drive).
I might think of some others later. I just wanted to show that yes, I am still contributing (feebly) to the blog.
Walking from the Champs Elysees to the Port Alexandre III, I witnessed a traffic accident.
An unfortunate Paris commuter — he looked about 55; wore a suit and tie; and was obviously just trying to get home — rear-ended a police van. The van contained at least 8 members of the French National Police force who were on their way, well, somewhere.
The sidewalk was flocked with tourists like me, and the laughter as a result of the collision sounded like the inside of a comedy club.
Good news — they didn’t haul the motorist away in cuffs. Bad news — they didn’t haul the motorist away in cuffs.
Cam laments over at his blog that Virginia Republicans have come together around a deal that would pump about $1 billion into transportation across the Commonwealth. “Doesn’t some party have to be against raising taxes?”
Well, um, no. Not when it’s the right thing to do.
Dude, have you driven on the beltway lately? Seen I-66 at rush hour?
State government’s most important job, arguably, is providing infrastructure for commerce. It’s one that government is uniquely suited for. (Just ask the guys who were trying to move goods in 1785 on the hodgepodge system of toll roads and canals.)
But Virginia hasn’t paid any real attention to transportation — and by that, I mean roads, not feel-good but worthless mass-transit plans — in more than a generation. This deal is long overdue. And if that means I have to a pay a little more, I am happy to do so.
And the deal that Virginia Republicans worked out is a good one. It includes very little in the way of general tax increases, but it comes up with the necessary revenue to do what needs to be done.
Cam isn’t from Virginia, so I’ll forgive his ignorance of Virginia history. But it’s important to understand that since the days that Harry Byrd, Sr. was governor, Virginia has been a pay-as-you-go state. We don’t sink ourselves into mountains of debt and then hope that luck or Providence will save us later (see, for example, California, New York, etc.). These days, we need the roads, so we’re going to pay for them. It’s that simple. And we want to pay for them without taking money from other important priorities — like public education. So the money has to come from somewhere.
Cam, as a resident of Northern Virginia, where the traffic is the second-worst in the nation behind only Los Angeles, ought to be celebrating the long-overdue move by the legislature to address the problem. The hand-ringing over higher taxes and lamenting a perceived breach of conservative or partisan dogma doesn’t get us anywhere closer to a solution.
Jim: Lest it seem like it’s gang up on Cam week, I’m going to note that while I agree with Marshall in this case — very likely relocating to northern Virginia, and the less time I spend in traffic the better - I want lawmakers to have a genuine and healthy skepticism when new spending is suggested for “a good cause.”
Actually, my neighbor here in Turkey wrote a fascinating book at the social effects of suburban sprawl - the web site for it can be found here. The more I talk with Doug, the more I think lawmakers of all parties and ideologies have dropped the ball on intrastructure, urban/suburban planning, zoning, etc. For example, it seems like in lots of places in northern Virginia, you’ll have a housing development off of a highway or major road, with no outlets, just a spreading tree of cul-de-sacs. And then right next to it, you’ll have another one, again only connected to the rest of the world via that major artery. Next to that, you’ll have the mini-mall, the big box stores, etc., again, with one main entrance; none of these will be connected to each other and thus everyone wishing to get anyplace has to do so by going out onto the main road. (US278 leading from I-95 to Hilton Head, S.C., is the agonizing embodiment of this.)
Compare this to your basic urban grid, with multiple use zoning, with apartments next to commerical usages, corner stores and groceries, etc. If one street is clogged with traffic, you just move over a block and try the next one; you’ve got multiple routes to every destination, and little or no choke points.
Certain housing developments in recent years have been designed with automobiles in mind; my in-laws don’t even have sidewalks in their neighborhood. The architecture sends a very clear message: These streets weren’t made for walking; the form of the properties reinforces your dependence upon an automobile, whether it’s to get a quart of milk or a cup of coffee or a run to Price Club.
We’ve developed ourselves into a cul-de-sac dead end, to force a repetitive pun. It’s going to take money to get us out, but it probably will be worth it in the long run.
Cam: Can the next On Tap fight involve Marshall and Jim, please?
Seriously, I understand what you’re saying Marshall, but wasn’t it just a couple of years ago that the GOP-led assembly voted to increase taxes when there was a billion dollar surplus? This was right around the time I moved here, and I was pre-occupied with getting the show up and running, but I seem to remember some talk of that.
And I agree about paying for roads being a high priority, but I wonder what kind of pork we’d find if we started rooting around various state budgets. Maybe it wouldn’t be enough to offset all of the tax increases, but it’d be a start.
And you guys can pick on me all you want. At least I’m spurring on your return to the blog!
Marshall, again: First, let me address Jim’s comments. In short, I completely agree. The lunacy of many of the planning decisions that have been made in recent decades is appalling. Communities with no sidewalks, cul-de-sacs, and the like. The fact is, the places that people love to congregrate are mixed use — Old Town Alexandira, for example. Georgetown is another. Places where people live, work, shop and recreate. And happily, we’re seeing the return of mixed use — Clarendon is a great example.
But we can build all the mixed use we want, and we’re still going to need to be able to move between and among communities. That means roads, and good ones. And Northern Virginia is growing, so we need more of them, and we need them to be bigger and smartly-engineered with the benefit of modern designs.
Which brings me to Cam. Cam, the tax increase you reference didn’t go to transportation at all. It went to education.The legislature wimped out on roads. And has done so every year before and since. So this move is way overdue, and I’m glad they’re finally going to get the deal done.