U r b a n T r e k k e r

Are We There Yet? DC's Transportation Blueprint

This show is part of PBS' Blueprint America series about U.S. infrastructure, where Kojo Nnamdi hosts a panel of transportation experts to talk about the metro Washington DC transportation blueprint and where's taking us. The first 5 minutes or so is the most important part of the whole discussions. It lays out all kinds of transportation projects each jurisdiction - District of Columbia, Maryland, Baltimore, and Virginia - are working on. (yours truly was among the audience.)

“Its not about getting people from point A to point B, but more about building better communities,” said Robert Thomson aka “Dr. Gridlock” of The Washington Post, one of three guests panelists along with Ron Kirby, Director of Transportation for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments; and Alice M. Rivlin, Senior Fellow and Director of the Greater Washington Research at the Brookings Institute. [via Blueprint America]

Building better communities, that's the challenges we have...

Are We There Yet? D.C.'s Transportation Blueprint from WHUT-TV on Vimeo.

Are We There Yet, D.C.'s Transportation Blueprint (2) from WHUT-TV on Vimeo.

How do I get to Tysons During HOT Lanes & Dulles Metrorail Constructions?

Do you know that the projects meet at Tysons? Yup. Of all places, Tysons Corner is the place, where the two Virginia mega projects meet.

Coming up this summer! Here's the rundown of constructions around Tysons, via Virginia Mega Projects news.

Construction of the new I-495 South (Outer Loop) bridge over Route 123 continues in Tysons Corner. When the bridge is completed this summer, traffic on I-495 South will shift to the bridge, and the original bridge over Route 123 will be demolished. After demolition, pier construction begins on the future Dulles Corridor metrorail tracks over I-495. During construction the left lanes of Route 123 under I-495 will be closed in late spring for 18-24 months.

What kind of travel management options available for employers and commuters? There's a wide range of options available from commuter solutions, carpool incentives, NOW Mega benefits program, telework!va 50k.

So, here's your getting there options.

COMMUTER OPTIONS

• Tysons Connector Bus
• Tysons Express from Woodbridge to Tysons
• Coming soon: Tysons Express from Loudoun
• Metro/Fairfax Connector Services
• Vanpool and carpool incentives
• Guaranteed Ride Home Program
• Carpool and Vanpool matching

This is a plus if you commute from Loudoun. Loudoun Tysons Express, a June 21 start-up date, funded by Dulles metrorail project and Virginia Megaprojects as an effort to keep commuters moving during construction. It'll save commuters money on tolls and gas. The price: $3 per trip with SmarTrip card and $3.5 per trip with cash. The Loudoun Express have 55 comfy seats and free wi-fi. Take note of that. So you can keep your productivity running.

  

image: Loudoun Express with free wifi bus

image: Planned stops at Tysons for Loudoun Express

CARPOOL INCENTIVES

Program rollout in summer 2010. You can earn rewards with carpool, points, etc. like your frequent flyers thing. Through Commuter Connections, each person that signs up, gets a free McDonald's "Angus Third Pounder" and a $10 coupon from GrubHub that you can use towards ordering food from more than 400 restaurants in Washington metro area. Not bad. 

Van Assistance program

This is part of employer solutions program. Because it's challenging to start a new vanpool with 100% of the seats filled, the Virginia Megaprojects VanStart Assistance program will help to get start a new vanpool on the road while working on rounding up people to sign up for the services. They're kicking in financial incentives to cover vacant seats for the first two months. Program only available while funds last.

EMPLOYER SOLUTIONS

For employers, they do offer bottom line incentives. It's all about bottom line! In the form of telework!va, transit and vanpool incentives.

• 50% for matching for new or increase, employer offer benefits combination of vanpool, transit, bike to work. The way I understand it, if employer offers SmarTrip allowance up to $230 per mo. per employee. (I might be wrong on this. My writing is so bad. So don't quote me).
• employer, employee tax free benefits.
• teleworkva benefits if your office located in Tysons Corner up to $50,000 just by starting or expanding company wide telework program. Up to $35,000 for companies with 20-99 employees,
• there is also some tech assistance available.

If you are an employer, you might want to contact them directly, because they can help you customize your program company-wide.

Oh, if all else fails.. there's always slugging, the instant carpooling.

RESOURCES you can check into for more details:

- Tysons Connector

- Tysons Express (from Woodbridge to Tysons)

- Guaranteed Ride Home

- Commuter Connections

- VA Mega Project Employer Solutions

- Telework!Va 50k

- Virginia 511 - for checking road conditions, trip planning and more

- Loudoun County Tysons Bus Express

Lastly, the mother site for all information related to Virginia megaprojects construction, http://www.vamegaprojects.com/

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Related posts, TAGS:  transportation, around Tysons development.

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Going Green? Here are the 10 Tax Breaks for 2010

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Looking to fix up your house? Here are the 10 tax breaks for going green, via Forbes.

1. If you fix up your house. $1,500 off your tax bill - a 30% credit for the first $5,000 you spend in 2009 or 2010 for improvements to your house energy efficiency. (for further reading: Energy Efficiency Home and Vehicle Tax Credits)
2. Buy a new refrigerator. States are rolling out $300 million worth of rebates for home owners who replaced their clunker apps with new energy-efficient models. (check out Department of Energy approved Energy Efficiency Rebates)
3. Get hot water from the sun. Solar hot water system to heat your shower or radiators (not hot tub or pool) qualify for a 30% federal credit with no dollar cap. 
4. Install a solar energy system. Uncle Sam will give you a tax credit equal to 30% of the price of a solar system you install to generate electricity in your home. For a $60,000 system, that's a whopping $18,000 off your taxes.
5. Take the bus. Bus, train, subway, and van-pool commuters can now get equal tax benefits with those who drive solo to work an pay to park. (up to pre-tax $230 for employers sponsor plans).
6. Buy a Ford hybrid. Taxpayers stuck paying the AMT can finally claim the credit for hybrid cars purchased in 2009 or 2010, but only if they buy Ford motor hybrids. (FYI: Honda and Toyota no longer qualify). Check out Alliance to Save Energy for Vehicle Tax Credits for more info.
7. Plug In a Chevy Volt... slated later for showrooms in November with projected price of $40,000, qualifies for federal tax credit of $7,500. Nissan Leaf coming out in December, should also qualify for the credit.
8. Bike to work. A new law lets your employer reimburse you $20 a month for bicyle commuting as tax-free fringe benefits. Can't take both with train, it's one of the other.
9. Dig for heat. Uncle Sam will give you a tax credit for 30% of the cost of geothermal heat pump system that feeds off the warmth in the ground to heat your home.
10. Put a windmill in your yard. A basic residential windmill runs $40,000, but you can get a federal tax credit equal to a full 30% of your windmill cost.

More on tax tips "How to Save Money on Going Green" and watch video on 'Tax Tips for 2010.'

For further reading you can check out few sites:

• Alliance to Save Energy: Energy Efficiency Home and Vehicle Tax Credits 
• Energy Savers Rebates, Tax Credits, Financing: Approved Energy Efficient Appliance Rebates
• Virginia Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program
• Maryland: Residential Incentives and FY 2010 Comprehensive Program Guide
• Green DC: Energy Star Appliance Rebates
• DSIRE: Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency

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2010-2011 Projection: Washington DC Home Prices +1.84%

You know that all real estate is local. This is the local forecast for our market for 2010-2011. According to data recently released by First American Core Logic, home prices for Washington DC- Arlington- Alexandria including sale of distressed homes (foreclosures & short sales), would increase by 1.84%.

  

[via First American Core Logic]

The price outlook for across the US, "..the Home Index Price (HPI) for the year will continue to go down well into the spring before beginning to stabilize and then recover modestly in the remainder for the year."

If you're selling, you should feel much better now because the prices started to pick up again - locally.

Market pulse for Northern Virginia as of February 2010, via MRIS.

• Condo sales grew 12%
• Single family, townhouse showed slower activity
• Good news for sellers: Northern Virginia home prices up 20% from a year ago from $267,500 to $320,660. Compare that to 2008-2009 period where 2009 Feb prices was down -26.7% at $267,500 from previous year at $365,000.

For DC, Maryland suburbs, February sales 2010,  it's a mixed bag.

• Number of homes sold up 35.8% for the month, from 1,573 to 2,136 homes. On the longer track, it wasn't as strong as 2007 sales.
• Sales of lower home prices pulled the sales price down to $270,000 from $287,000 a year ago. 2009 prices were down -22.4% from a year earlier.

Incentives work. Overall for DC metro area, the perfect buying conditions come from: federal tax credit for buyers, low interest rates and low prices.

The one thing that could continue to drive prices up is this: low inventory of homes.

Get Paid to Carpool

Commuter connections is looking for participants for pilot project. They need 700 participants. Hey, you'll get up to $130 for three months just to carpool. Details here.

Double Dip Price Decline?

Image via Wikipedia

This is FHA saying.

An increase in down payments to 5%, from the current minimum 3.5%, would limit new FHA-backed loans by 40%, equivalent to 300,000 fewer home sales, according to testimony that FHA Commissioner David Stevens is set to deliver on Thursday.

[via Developments]

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Northern Virginia 2020 Transportation Plan

IF you're buying sometime in the FY 2010 to 2020, learning the details on transportation planning slated for Northern Virginia, probably won't hurt. Just to make sure that the property you're buying is not going to ended up in some sort of eminent domain.

According to the 2020 transportation plan map, here are the eight major corridors:

1. Dulles/VA-7 corridor
2. Tri-County/ Loudoun County Parkway & VA 234/VA 659 corridor
3. VA 28 corridor
4. Prince William County Parkway (VA-3000) corridor
5. Fairfax County Parkway (VA 7100) corridor
6. I-66/US-29/US-50 corridor
7. I-495 beltway corridor
8. I-95/-395/ US 1 corridor

In addition to these corridors there are selected improvements and other improvements that include outside the corridors above. Mostly the plan involved some sorts of roads/ highways infrastructure - bypass, interchanges- whether new or widening existing roads. I'm not a big fan of more roads, I think other transportation mechanism is preferable, like light rail, small feeder buses that can connect some neighborhoods to the nearest metro stations, bike trails, pedestrian trails - anything that will help reduce road congestion. And get more people to use the mass transit.

NOVA 2020 Trans Plan Map

Highlights:

• For VA 28 corridor (Fairfax, Manassas), there's a transit plan slated for light rail from Manassas to Dulles Airport with a capital cost of $790 million. More likely for 2020 FY.

• FY 2010 selected improvements metrorail extension from Dulles corridor to VA 772 in Loudoun and metrorail extension from Vienna to Centreville. (the Centreville plan I haven't heard about it).

• 2020 improvements include metrorail from Dunn Loring to Tysons Corner to Maryland.

• Light rail in US 1 corridor from Alexandria to the Pentagon.

• 2010 FY and 2020 bicycle and pedestrian improvements.

2010 major improvements include Columbia Pike to Pentagon Trail, Springfield to Tysons Corner Bikeway

2020 major improvements include Light rail VA 7 -Tysons Corner to Baileys Crossroads; Columbia Pike corridor -Baileys Crossroads to Pentagon, VA-7 (4 to 6 lanes) Seven Corners to Baileys Crossroads.

Read the 2020 NOVA transportation report here.

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Correction: Headline should read not "Virginia" but Northern Virginia.

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Major Cities Transit Pattern in Art (DC included)

How do Americans get to work?  Among the 7 (correction: 8) major cities in this pattern (below) - Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, San Fransisco, Houston, Washington DC and Seattle - New Yorkers by far use mass transit to and from work than any other cities. While Houston holds the trophy for the highest percentage of commuters who 'drive themselves.' At least, DC has proportional method of transit pattern, by public transport and drive.

Commuting patterns in major cities via Infrastructurist.

Artist Martha Kang McGill illustrates the commuting habits of eight major U.S. cities, illustrating just who is driving, walking, biking, or taking mass transit. All stats are based on the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.

 

Pretty neat, huh?

The Big Problem with Short Sales

Memo to buyers: be patient, if you're buying a short-sales.

A short sales required third-party approval, that is the lender/s holding the loan/s will have to get on board on your purchase. Sometimes they dance with you. Sometimes they don't. No quick closing.

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DC Area Still Good for Business

Image via Wikipedia

That said, restaurants, groceries and electronic retailers interested in the area for potential expansion. The line up includes Fresh Market, Wakefern Food Corp., Brixx Wood-Fired Pizza, HhGregg, Burger Joint, and more. More business moving into the area or looking for expansion, good for the local economy.