Dr. Gridlock

Metrorail west of Vienna is not a fantasy, but the public has to demand it and support it over the course of many years of development.

When opponents of the proposed spot widening of westbound Interstate 66 talk about their frustration with the lack of a "multi-modal" transportation study, one of the modes they have in mind is Metrorail. They want Virginia to study an Orange Line extension.

The Virginia Department of Transportation says that it would love to study all sorts of transportation options in the I-66 corridor, but that it hasn't enough money. At the current levels of funding and political support, the most substantial transit proposal is likely to involve bus rapid transit.

That's not a bad start, but the corridor will need an extended heavy rail line.

Inclusive Transport

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

A transitway doesn't make any sense if it can't carry significant numbers of workers to and from their jobs. This is the scene in Bethesda: professional services firms and companies that hire people with skills and credentials in the medical, legal, financial, nonprofit, real estate and government contracting fields, etc.

This is not a blue-collar town; Bethesda has no jobs for people with low-to-moderate skills. It was planned that way by the county in the 1960s, and it's what we have now: a town full of restaurants and condominiums and office buildings, housing college-educated workers and professionals. A blue-collar environment has little chance of emerging now.

Look around. Where would you build a factory or even a warehouse? There is no reason to build a transitway to attract workers if there are no jobs for them in town. The subway that will get you here. It was built 30 years ago. It's not so profitable, but it's here.

Jim O'Brien

Chevy Chase

Around 6 a.m., the bus stops of eastern Montgomery and western Prince George's counties are crowded with working people headed toward Bethesda to staff those office buildings. Some of them have to transfer from bus to bus to bus to reach their jobs.

Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Montgomery), among others, says that providing less affluent people from the eastern suburbs with a faster, more reliable way of reaching the workplaces clustered in Bethesda is a matter of social justice.

Dr. Gridlock appears Thursdays in the Extras and Sundays in the Metro section. Send e-mails for publication to drgridlock@washpost.comor write to Dr. Gridlock at 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. Include your name, community and phone numbers.