Any landing you can walk away from is a good one.

I don't know if you heard, but there's a little news about Amazon coming to Crystal...I mean National Landing and there's expected to be some changes to the area as a result, some of which are part of the deal. 

The community and Amazon employees will benefit from the Commonwealth investing $195 million in infrastructure in the neighborhood, including improvements to the Crystal City and the Potomac Yard Metro stations; a pedestrian bridge connecting National Landing and Reagan National Airport; and work to improve safety, accessibility, and the pedestrian experience crossing Route 1 over the next 10 years. 

It seems reasonable to believe that added density in the urban core would lead to more biking, walking and transit, especially considering the corporate culture. 

Compared with other large corporations, Amazon employees are less likely to commute by car, as about 55 percent either walk, bike or take public transit, according to a survey the company did of its Seattle workforce. The company purchases transit cards for employees and is building a dedicated cycle track to separate bikes from cars near its Seattle buildings.

I think the bridge they're talking about is the one that has been profiled before, which I don't believe was funded, but looks like maybe it is now. 

The area is already more bike friendly than most. It has a couple of connections to the Mt. Vernon Trail, bike facilities down the middle on Crystal Drive, the Four Mile Run Trail and other small trails as well as other bike lanes. That's not to say that a few protected bike lanes or better east-west connections wouldn't help, but just that it starts out in pretty good shape. 

One thing that would make biking in the area better would be a bike span as part of the new Long Bridge, especially if it goes to Long Bridge Park. Also an easier bike connection to the airport - which might be addressed by the new pedestrian bridge - would be great. 

Comments

[huskerdont]

I know the Park Service doesn't have two pennies to rub together, but the MVT is in pretty poor shape. Maybe some of that Bezos money could be leveraged to make it safer.