D.C. area’s top transportation stories of 2011

Map makeover

Metro brought back graphic artist Lance Wyman to redo his original map of the Metrorail system to account for several coming changes. The transit authority needs to add the new stations for the Silver Line, which will go through Tysons Corner, out to Dulles International Airport and into Loudoun County, and it needs to indicate a new rush-hour pattern for Blue, Yellow and Orange Line trains.

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Although the process was quite complex, no element was as tortured as the Metro board’s lengthy review of station names, in which business interests exerted their political clout to win free naming rights in public spaces.

11th Street Bridge

The D.C. Department of Transportation this month opened the first of three replacement spans for the 11th Street Bridge over the Anacostia River. But several important benefits of the project must wait until next year. Construction of new ramps will allow commuters to go from one highway to another without using local streets, something they have dreamed of for decades.

BRAC moves

The federal base realignment is a regional transportation trauma that began this fall and will linger for at least a few years. A congressionally mandated review concluded that local governments need at least a decade to plan, finance and build the traffic and transit improvements needed to cope with the dispersal of federal employees.

Because the locals didn’t have the time or the money after the dispersals were announced, they still are working on road projects and transit plans to catch up with the influx to the Mark Center, the Bethesda medical center, Fort Belvoir and Fort Meade.

Silver Line blues

My nomination for worst transportation decision of 2011: The airports authority board caved to political pressure and agreed to locate the Dulles Airport Metrorail station far enough from the terminal so that air travelers won’t use it.

14th Street Bridge

The repairs on the northbound road surface of the 14th Street Bridge required drivers to navigate around blocked lanes over several years; those repairs finally ended this summer.

Like the repair of Chain Bridge, this job was one of those things that had to be done to preserve the structure. But the drivers who endured the congestion and the closings didn’t wind up with new lanes or ramps, just with pavement that is smoother and a structure that won’t fall into the Potomac.

Beltway speed camera

For the first time, drivers on the Beltway encountered speed enforcement cameras. It was part of a Maryland program that allows the use of speed cameras in highway work zones.

The camera zone was set up this summer to protect workers and travelers at the Northwest Branch bridge in Silver Spring, which is undergoing an extensive rehabilitation. Although speed limits can be reduced in Maryland work zones, this one remains at the standard 55 mph for the Beltway. Drivers must be going at least 12 mph over the speed limit to receive a $40 citation. In four months, the state issued 27,331 citations.

Staff writer Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report.