Open Government in Arlington

I remember when I first saw the website kayak.com I thought to myself, "self, you didn't know you needed this, but you did." That's the same way I feel about this new (to me) discovery that was mentioned in the Examiner over a month ago:

Arlington County is now providing updates on county construction projects to the public via an online database. CAPTrack, a searchable list of more than 400 capital improvement projects, grew out of the county's own method of tracking construction progress.

If you're a local transportation policy nerd (and if you haven't noticed, I kind of am) CAPtrack is Paradise.  You can sort it for just Trails & Bikeways projects and get the latest update on all of Arlington counties projects. For example:

                       

Project Name	CUSTIS TRAIL WESTOVER UNDERPASS @ I-66
Summary	REALIGN BIKE TRAIL AND PROVIDE NECESSARY DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS TO THE TRAIL @ I-66 UNDERPASS NEAR WESTOVER PARK & N. KENNEBEC ST.
Current Status	Active, currently in the Implementation phase   (4 of 5).   [01/09/2006] Contractor is preparing a proposal for construction. Expected completion Winter 2006.

Besides the nerdy pleasure of having the latest 411, it also represents a movement toward open government, which I think is a pretty good thing, just like open code, open source and open content. DC, Alexandria, MoCo, etc...now you have someone to emulate.

Comments

[DT]

I have to say, Arlington always seems to be on top of things. They consistently are giving area residents more and better bike lanes, repairing the paved paths, and always giving bicyclists the opportunity to give their opinion and be involved. There are probably counties/cities all over that could take note...

[Richard Layman]

Wonder where you picked up that item????