Virginia Coffee House

[rusthebuss]

I think the best option to solve this problem is to just build the 564 extension out to the MM with an extension down to 164 without expanding the current 664 and floating in new tunnels. The capicity of MM is no where near capacity therefore why widen it. Just build the 564 extension with the extension to 164 and the port wins by having direct access to tunnels that are more than adequate in height. Then take all of the other money that would have been spent on new tunnels for the MM and put that toward new tunnels for hampton roads bridge tunnel. Every body wins, we get a wider I-64 and the ports get there direct access for little more than the full price of the third crossing project.

I think they want to build the 664 side out because of the large amount of development going on in Northern Suffolk and all around that area. So this would help for future traffic problems. I don't think there is a easy solution for this. They should have been looking for solutions before the problem got this bad. Lets be honest too, this 564 extention is not for us but for the marine terminal.

[lammius]

That did not impress Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, who wondered if Suit

[wrldcoupe4]

Nice plug for Virginia's capital tonight

Edited February 1, 2006 by wrldcoupe4

[rusthebuss]

Nice plug for Virginia's capital tonight

[gosscj]

I should probably save this for the Coffee House, but IMO Del Marshall is a nutcase and causes far too much ridiculous controversy in the General Assembly.

He's the delegate who introduced the current proposal to ammend the state constitution to forbid homosexual marriages, civil unions and leal contracts. I hate him. I attended a recent meeting of the House Priviledges and Elections Committee (which he is on) where they talked at some length about the ammendment and his remarks and demeanor were extraordinarily disrespectful. I wonder what could possibly cause him to oppose the bill - unless Prince William County manages to land an NBA franchise, it has nothing to do with him or his constituents!

[vdogg]

I second that.

[erdogs]

He's the delegate who introduced the current proposal to ammend the state constitution to forbid homosexual marriages, civil unions and leal contracts. I hate him. I attended a recent meeting of the House Priviledges and Elections Committee (which he is on) where they talked at some length about the ammendment and his remarks and demeanor were extraordinarily disrespectful. I wonder what could possibly cause him to oppose the bill - unless Prince William County manages to land an NBA franchise, it has nothing to do with him or his constituents!

Hate is kind of strong, thats what he practices. Be the better man. His county has no chance at any franchise, that is why he is against it.

[wrldcoupe4]

I second that.

The democratic response to the president's state of the union address came from the Governor's Mansion in Richmond via Tim Kaine. It was just nice to hear that

[vdogg]

The democratic response to the president's state of the union address came from the Governor's Mansion in Richmond via Tim Kaine. It was just nice to hear that

The Presidents State of the Union was tonight? Shows you how much I pay attention to Bush.

[rusthebuss]

The Presidents State of the Union was tonight? Shows you how much I pay attention to Bush.

Kaine is an idiot

[rusthebuss]

I've grown to dislike all politicians. None of them end up working for the people they rep anyways

[wrldcoupe4]

Kaine is an idiot

Did you dig up his grades from school or something? Please, do elaborate.

[rusthebuss]

Did you dig up his grades from school or something? Please, do elaborate.

He is a talks out of the side of his mouth!

He thinks he can tax you to death to make everything better but people spend less and less when they are taxed like that!

There are a few things that I agree with on. I liked what he said about the immigration issue. Bush is really lacking on that subject.

[lammius]

He's the delegate who introduced the current proposal to ammend the state constitution to forbid homosexual marriages, civil unions and leal contracts. I hate him. I attended a recent meeting of the House Priviledges and Elections Committee (which he is on) where they talked at some length about the ammendment and his remarks and demeanor were extraordinarily disrespectful. I wonder what could possibly cause him to oppose the bill - unless Prince William County manages to land an NBA franchise, it has nothing to do with him or his constituents!

In addition he single-handedly stopped a student-led sex education program at JMU (by simply writing an encouraging letter to the Univ president) supposedly because it didn't sit well with his moral values. JMU is nowhere near any district he represents. It seems when Virginia's most crazy fundamentalist "moral" controversies come about, Marshall either started it or is right in the middle of it.

[Glassoul]

He is a talks out of the side of his mouth!

He thinks he can tax you to death to make everything better but people spend less and less when they are taxed like that!

There are a few things that I agree with on. I liked what he said about the immigration issue. Bush is really lacking on that subject.

Actually, on the immigration issue, I didn't hear him propose anything definitive or any sort of specifics, it seemed pure rhetoric to me. Honestly, it felt like an infomercial in the tone and manner in which he spoke. The whole, "we can do better" tagline just didn't cut it for me, and I don't think people outside of Virginia are going to connect with his examples of bipartisanship within the commonwealth.

It seemed a strange choice to pick someone who has little to no national experience nor any name recognition beyond the commonwealth to do the rebuttal. Whilst his social morals put him more in the center than many other Democrats, those are not issues which were going to be heavily addressed. However, I will say it was a vast improvement over the Nancy & Harry show last year, though that isn't saying much. I'm pretty sure my IQ dropped a few points after sitting through that.

edit: spelling

Edited February 1, 2006 by Glassoul

[weill]

I hate all politicians unless there doing something for me.

[sugoiben]

toll any new roads... Smart Tag makes delays minimal, even non-existent. Anyone foolish enough not to have smart tag deserves to wait. That way, only the users of the toll road pay for the toll road. Lots of people will pay for the convenience.

I got a smart tag, and I drive out the Dulles Toll Road from Tyson's Corner to Reston for work everyday.

And Smart Tag doesn't get rid of delays. Most days are really quick. But once in a while, there are days when you get stuck and it takes a good 10-15 minutes to get past the main tollbooth. You get stuck behind

all the ppl at the regular tolls back past where the smart tag lanes even open up. It does make it quicker

but it doesn't get rid of backups entirely.

And curiously, if they were to toll say, the HRBT, where are the gonna squeeze in these tollbooths?

I'm thinking if they didn't have it at least 10-12 lanes wide worth of tollbooths, it would be severely slow.

Don't know where they got room for that even. If they decide to toll it that is.

[urbanfan]

I got a smart tag, and I drive out the Dulles Toll Road from Tyson's Corner to Reston for work everyday.

And Smart Tag doesn't get rid of delays. Most days are really quick. But once in a while, there are days when you get stuck and it takes a good 10-15 minutes to get past the main tollbooth. You get stuck behind

all the ppl at the regular tolls back past where the smart tag lanes even open up. It does make it quicker

but it doesn't get rid of backups entirely.

And curiously, if they were to toll say, the HRBT, where are the gonna squeeze in these tollbooths?

I'm thinking if they didn't have it at least 10-12 lanes wide worth of tollbooths, it would be severely slow.

Don't know where they got room for that even. If they decide to toll it that is.

The peninsula side of the HRBT has plenty of room for toll lanes. The main problem would be on the Norfolk side.

[wrldcoupe4]

The Dulles toll road probably needs upgrades, particularly around the toll booth to accomodate the incredible growth in Loudoun and other areas.

[Former Resident of HR]

The peninsula side of the HRBT has plenty of room for toll lanes. The main problem would be on the Norfolk side.

It would probably make more sense to put all the booths on one side and catch people at the same point. Either way would cause backups though.

Oh and BTW this just in: Hell just froze over.

The VA Senate passed a no smoking in public ordinance. I am SURE that it will not make it through the house but it would be VERY NICE if it did. I am all for people having rights but we all know that there are few clubs in the area that are smoke free and not $20 cover...

[Padman]

I believe that the time has come for toll roads. We have to implement the tolls differently than we have in the past. The Smart card technology used on many facilities doesn't sem to speed things up very much.

The problem isn't Richmond at all. It's a largely conservative, anti big goverment sentiment that had roots in the Reagan revolution and has been taken up by many Republican politicians in order to get votes. Until we can restore trust in government, this movement will stay strong, and for good reason. Nothing in the last few disastrous years at the Federal level has strengthened my faith in the capability of government to solve large problems. How much are you getting for your tax dollars? And isn't it apparent that most of the waste and inefficiency in spending occurs at the Federal level rather than state and local? Reform has to start there.

There's an even bigger problem, but it's more subtle, and you can't throw ad hominems and pot shots at it: almost every real solution to our biggest problems have technological components that we can't afford. We're in a post industrial age in America. The Chinese can fill our stores with exports, but they can't build our roads and provide our health care (at least not yet). It may be that all of our micro-economic models are obsolete, and that mass production with it's economies of scale are not very responsive to these new problems. So we have to invent and most importantly accept new delivery systems for these new technologies that may not work in a free market economy. These systems might even have some socialistic characteristics. How in the world can we develop such systems in an environment that doesn't trust government?

I'm sober, but I know this seems like a rant. Sorry.

The technological cost issue may already be the biggest barrier to transportation solutions. It looks like we're in a holding pattern, waiting for breakthroughs. We love our cars because they are our outer shells. We go where we want to, when we want to. They really are part and parcel of our being, well almost. Whatever we willingly move to as a transportation option must offer improvement over our current condition, not step backwards. Any thoughts?

Edited February 16, 2006 by Padman

[rusthebuss]

High-tech jobs is what this area needs, but yet again I don't think this would have come to HR without the support of the miltary (Amrys' TRADOC). Still it's great for the area.

Yeah cause we can't rely on the Govenor to push jobs here!

[wrldcoupe4]

How does the governor push jobs places?

[rusthebuss]

How does the governor push jobs places?

He has a big influence on things

[mercuex]

Rus is right, the governor is expected to be basically the lobbyist-in-chief for Virginia. That means entertaining potential investors both commercial and governmental. Oftentimes the governor will hint at tax breaks, subsidies, and other state goodies to sweeten the pot, and the legislature usually approves since the more money in Virginia, the better.

At least that's what you'd think. Apparently this administration seems to think that more money (surplus) means we need more money (new taxes). Yeah ...

Anyway the modeling and simulation thing really is a big coup for Hampton Roads. This area really is moving along with high-tech industry. We're the NOVA of Virginia (since NOVA is more Maryland than VA IMHO, lol) without all the toffs and berets.