Note: Welcome to my online campaign to turn HOV lanes into bike lanes. The proposal itself is contained in an open letter here. A related faq has been begun here. The e-mails that I have so far sent to potentially interested parties may be found here. Finally, a faux interview may be found here, in which I hope to further flesh out the issues involved in my new road-use plan.















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Dear Sir or Madam:

I am a longtime Northern Virginia resident who is concerned by the increasing devastation being wrought by our nation's addiction to oil and, in particular, by the recent catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I was recently reading about this disaster on the WTOP News website, wondering what I could personally do to help, when I noticed something ironic about the way that the story was being covered: On the same page as the hand-wringing headlines about the gulf, there were articles about local transportation issues, on such topics as establishing tolls on 395 HOV lanes and changing usage criteria for the I-66 shoulder lanes during rush hour. This struck me as ironic, because both stories were presented and discussed as if they were entirely unrelated, as if they were as far apart in subject matter as the gulf itself is, geographically speaking, from the Potomac River. There was no attempt to connect the dots between the oil spill in the gulf and our own unrelenting desire to use fossil fuel as easily as possible in our private lives, when surely it is our desire to consume the oil that makes it necessary and profitable for such companies as BP to engage in ever-riskier oil-mining practices in the first place. The addiction metaphor is very apt here, because as a people, we Americans seem to be in denial about the very reason for our malady: Yes, we feel terrible about the increasingly obvious negative consequences of our oil dependency and we wish in THEORY that there was something we could do about it, but that's not going to stop us from doing everything we can (almost in the same breath and certainly on the same headline page of the WTOP website!) to make it still easier for us, personally, to burn still more oil more rapidly, in this case by tweaking the local HOV regulations to better accommodate still more Northern Virginia traffic, thereby prolonging the already unsustainable proposition of gas-powered commuting in the metro-D.C. area.

I'm not getting on my "high horse" here, because I myself commute to work daily (on 395, no less) by gas-powered automobile like so many others. However, in my defense, the use of mass-transit is not an option in my case thanks to the decentralized nature of the various local bus services. Although my workplace is 7 miles away "as the crow flies," the lack of useful intra-county bus routes means that it would take me at least an hour and a half to get to work by bus (by multiple buses, in fact), notwithstanding the fact that I live in a crowded inside-the-Beltway location (Southern Towers) and I work, if possible, at an even more crowded location (Rosslyn, Virginia, just south of Georgetown). Moreover, because I work a late shift, the few buses that I could theoretically take on a return trip are no longer even running by the time I leave work. In short, the local transportation arrangement seems custom-designed to encourage car use, nor could I walk to work without negotiating a dozen very dangerous intersections, many of which have little or no provisions for pedestrians, although in my opinion they cry out for the installation of full-blown pedestrian bridges in light of the imminent danger that they pose to foot traffic on a daily basis. In short, I understand the local frustration with the commuting situation and I know that the problem is not going to be solved with hypocritical op-ed pieces and ad campaigns designed to send drivers on guilt trips about their transportation habits. If we want local commuters to seriously consider green alternatives to driving, we must first give them realistic green alternatives to consider -- and that is the reason that I am writing you today: to propose one such alternative that I believe could -- and should -- be implemented relatively quickly in this region, not simply in response to our local concerns about traffic and the environment, but as a sort of goodwill gesture to the oil-spill victims on the Gulf Coast, showing them that we understand our complicity as consumers in this disaster and that we are at least willing to experiment with ways to lessen our need for this dangerously acquired drug called "oil."

Here, then, is my proposal:

Turn the HOV lanes and I-66 shoulder lanes into bicycle- and pedestrian-only lanes.

Such a plan would allow us to take an end run around the environmental obstacles that we've created for ourselves in the region by failing to develop roads and other infrastructure with pedestrians in mind. Because of the HOV lanes' convenient proximity to population centers, this plan would allow tens of thousands of current commuters like myself the chance to go meaningfully "green" by biking to work on the weekdays. On the weekends, this plan would bring more locals into the District, thereby boosting the city's economy and easing traffic jams (and the Metro overcrowding that currently occurs during downtown events such as presidential inaugurations and the Fourth of July celebration on the National Mall). This plan would also dovetail with the First Lady's work to fight obesity and would give thousands of largely sedentary office workers a real (and realistic) opportunity to get back into shape. Above all, this plan (i.e., opening the HOV lanes to bicycles and pedestrians) would show the world (and especially our fellow Americans in the gulf) that the Northern Virginia area is serious about preventing a rerun of the BP oil spill disaster and that we recognize our responsibility as oil consumers in driving the demand that gives corporations the economic incentive to take unacceptable risks with our environment. The alternative to this plan is to remain in denial by pretending that our local transportation problems and the crisis in the gulf are unrelated, as if we had decided to leave it to the Tony Haywards of the world to atone for our own environmental sins. The alternative is the hypocritical status quo, in which we conveniently drive to work in our 22-mile-per-gallon SUVs while listening to the oil company suits on WTOP radio getting raked over the coals by some Senate Subcommittee for a crime in which we all, as gas-guzzling Americans, are in some sense responsible.

Thank you for your time and attention to this suggestion of mine. Although there are countless details that would no doubt have to be thrashed out among various municipalities and agencies in order to give this plan a try, I ask for the moment that you consider the idea in general terms only and ask yourselves: Is this not an initiative that could bring eco-conscious commuters together and set a positive example for other American metro areas that are hoping to lessen their dependence on fossil fuel? Would it not be a symbolically important endeavor from a global standpoint, too, insofar as it would demonstrate to the world that the capital of the most gas-guzzling country on the planet is willing to take significant steps to combat its own oil addiction, thereby investing itself with the moral credibility that we will need if we're to successfully convince other countries to follow suit?


Yours Sincerely,

Brian Quass
Alexandria, Virginia, USA
June 23, 2010






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Okay, Brian, why exactly do you want to turn HOV lanes into bicycle and pedestrian lanes?





There are two major reasons: Firstly, I believe that we as gas-burning commuters in the Northern Virginia area have a moral responsibility to respond in some meaningful way to the Gulf oil spill disaster, insofar as it is, in part, our appetite for oil that has led BP and other companies to pursue that commodity in what we now see are unacceptably risky ways, such as deepwater drilling.





Reason number two?





With spotty exceptions, the Northern Virginia area has been developed without pedestrians and bicyclists in mind. Turning HOV lanes into bike and pedestrian lanes would give us an "end run" around the lack of foresight of our forebears, by taking advantage of the prime real-estate that we initially set aside for the convenience of automobile drivers.





Wouldn't this mean major backups and delays for automobile drivers?





That will depend on how intelligently such a new road-use plan is designed, implemented, and promoted.





So the devil is in the details.





The point is, however, that the plan should not be judged in the abstract: We've got to remember why we're making this big effort, bearing in mind that our temporary discomfort should be weighed against the far worse discomfort currently being endured by many residents of the Gulf Coast.