good morning. this is "news 4 your sunday". thank you so much for joining us on this sundayrn g. i'm adam tuss. i'm here in for pat because we have a special transportation segment of "news 4 your sunday". i am joined by a distinguished panel. first the transportation planning director for the metropolitan washington council of government. we have marty noeho is the prince william county supervisor and chair of the regal transportation planning board and we are also joinedy kelly russell, the vice chair of the transportation planning boarso he city of frederick. thank you so much for being here to talk about whatrgsbly my favorite topic.

it is my favorite topic. planes, trains accide, how we a around the region. when is it alloing to get better? we'll cover all of this. let's start by doing this. in your opinions, because all of you are so heavily involved ie ransportation network around here, what is the biggest thing that d we'reling with at this moment? is it metro? is it our roats? s the issue that really is the sticking point in your opinion right now for the d.c. region? i'll srt with you. >> from a transportation planner's perspective, it is everything. the region is very diverse. certain modes of transportation work forin people for cer types of trips for certain times of the day andth days o week. there are times where i travel by metro. there are times when i travely driving. soere are times when i walk or bike. ll of these things is what

we need to be looking at if we want to address the current condition of th problems we have, but more importantly, to be prepared for the growth that the region is anticipating in planning. >> right. other words, a pothole is not a problem until it shows up on your street and then you have to deal with it. he brings up a good point. people always ask what is goings to fix trtation around here, and there's not one silver bullet. >> tre is not a silver bullet to fix titranspor. part of the challenge is the diversity of our region. kelly and i both reprent suburban jurisdictions. we're outside the belt way. we're not served by metro, but we absolutely have to increase the amount of transit availability we have, because we're not going to be able to builddsnough ro solve all of our problems. that doesn't mean we don't have to go roadso. a there's a lot of need. if you look at all of the different activity centers we have, look at all of our population centers as well asur all of employment centers,

we've got to connect all of those to oe another in s way and finding the most cost effeive and most effective ways to make those connection system a challenge we're working on every day. >> kellha all of kind of touches on one thing or another, but i have found in the years covering transportation that kind of what these guys are talking about is true, but you have to think regionally, right? for a long time we really haven't thoughton rely. we've kind of protected our own interests a little bit. have you found thatn frederick and maryland there's some reaching across the river even into the district to try to figure out morenowadays, more kind of regional aspects of transportation? >> absolutely. i think one of the things that we do is bring all these juriictions to the table to talk about these things. being from frederick sort of on the outer edges -- >> not anymore. i know a l p ofple who moving to frederick, who live in frederick, who deal with 270 all the time. what's happening here is just as

important as what's happening up there. >> absolutely. that's what wre finding. we're becoming an integral part of this whole the challenge is to think that way. we are definitely part of thon rend i think part of this effect is that a we have of these professionals from across all of these regionshat are ry diverse and we're all talking about the same thing.ll weant to move people more safely and efficiently. >> kanti, i'm not sure everyone around here understands that this transportation meeting of the mines hpens aroundere. everybody knows it's such a big issue. >> absolutely. one of the things the transportation planning board was created for a federal law going back to the 1960s, but the transportation planning board in this region, apart from simply being compliant with the federa, departmeas evolved.

all the elected officials, state legislators, stateon transportagencies will monitor all the different agencies that are providing the transportationinfrastructure, operating and maintaining it, they meet every month. there's a long agenda. they talk about a whole host of issues. starting with what is the safety the pedestrians. wede pro periodic reports on the accidents and then we talk about how are assets being managed, how well are the bridges being managed. so all of these issues aresb sed on a monthly basis and they all eventually evolve into long range transportation plan that reflects all the fundingnt commit that the local jurisdictions and states are making for the next 25 years. ght. kind of a framework. we're going to talk more about it after our first break. come back for this special edition. we're going to talk metro, airports, roads.

that's coming up after the break. e' -wre doing karaoke later, and you're gonna sing. -jamie, thisur house? -i know, it's not much, but it's home. right, -kids? -papa, papa! -[ laughs ] -you didn't tell me your friends were coming. -oh, yeah. -this one is tiny like a child. -yeah, she is. oh, but seriously, it's good to be surrounded by what matters most -- a home and auto bundle from progressive. -oh, sweetie, please, play fors. -oh, no, i couldn't. -please. -okay. [ singing in spanish ] -please. -okay. actually, that's my buick. your buick doesn't have a roof rack! this is my buick. how are we gonna fit in your mom's buick? easy. i like that new buick. me too. i was actually talking about that buick. i knew that. did you? buick's fresh new lineup is full of surprises. get great deals on our expectation-shattering lineup.

pay no interest for 72 months on most buick models.

welcome back. i'm adatuss and this is ews 4 your sunday", a special transportation edition. i've gotten pat to let me do the show today. thanyou all for being her with us. we're talking all things transportation.to marty, i wan pick is back up with you. let's talk metro. that's something that affects so many people across this region. they've been going t ups and downs. it seems like we're hearing less about the track fires and breakdowns. do you feel lying the general manager is doing a good job at turning the aemgency around? >> metro has turned the corner. theseneral manager d great job. as you know, the three jurisdictions, maryland, district of columbia, have all approved a new funding that over the next ten years

will allow them to make some significt statements, both to repair and safety improvements, operational improvements that should have been done over past ten years. there's a lot of catch up to do, but now that the funding is available, you wl see thing continue to improve. it really is the backbone of an entire transit network. our system of systems relies on metro to make everything else work effectively. >> kelly, one of the really alwaysting things found about metro is if you go to the end of the line stations and youyee how m people drive to metro and then take the train, so there's got to be a ton of people from frederick that drive to shady grove. those parking lots all down the red line are filled, so even a place with frederick where it seems like without route to metro, it's important to your residents as well. >> it's incredibly important. we have a large part of the population that go down the road. we rely heavily on bus commuter

service to get us to the metro. we have rail service, but it's very limited, v so we'rey interested in enhancing thoses connectihat will make it easier for folks to move between those jurisdictions. is it a thinghere it's almost too big to fail? we can't let metro fail. we always see it from a rider's perspective. we like to complain and ipe, but take us inside a lawmaker's perspective. ou that kind of the way think about the system, that we just can't let it get to a point where it doesn't >> it really is sort of the spine of the whole system and even if it doesn'ttl dir touch frederick physically, it's a critical important connection. the fact that the state of ryland and virginia and d.c. have all dedicated funding to move this period speaks t its importance. >> what do you think about that? >> absolutely right. so being from prince william county, we rely heavily on virginia railway they're making major investments

in terms of expanding our manassas line, our eight car to ten car train over the nextew years. the bulk of the riders get off at alace where they can transfer to a metro train. while we think of vre and the outer suburbs of being our t' equivalent, actually sort of an interconnected partner. >> that's the thing. it's all got to feed together and this is kind of where you jump in to see how everytheg can m adequately fit with one another. do you see room for our systems to integrate further? doesn't it seem likee need to kind of update our systems just a little bit? >> yes.e ood news -- yes, i agree, but the good news is as a region we areovg towards that. that's really what's happening. if you look at the transportation planning board,

the long-range transportation plan and you look at the total number o trips that are happening and the growth, we expect to add about 1.2 million more people in the next 25 years. >> where? >> exactly. there is the question. an additional one million more jobs. so this population and job growth creates a demand for mobility. it's not just traveling to work. it's forte ainment, shopping, medical, all the other trips in a day.n so the quest then becomes it's not simply enough to look at only the transportation piece of it. what do we do on highway, what do we do on met rail, on commuter rail, but iis alson the land use. where are these people going? where do we aicipate this growth to have? those are the kinds of things the transportationarlanning has been working on so that it's good news. when i loo at it from a planner's perspective, when i

look at the next 25 years, our latest long range plan indicates 75% of the one million more jobs that we'renticipating are planned to go in what we are calling regional activity centers. there are 141 of them. they take less than0% of the region's entire gear. e housing or the population, we anticipate about 1.2 million. about 2/3 are anticipated to go into this area. what does all of that mean? that means that when we look at the next 25 years, the biggest increase in the type ofps t people will be making is not by single occupant driver but it walking and biking. >> interesting. we'll pick up there when we come back. a special edition of "news 4 yoal sunday" as we all things transportation with this great panel. come back after the break. geico makes it easy to get help when you need it.

with licensed agents available 24/7. it's not just easy. it's having-a-walrus-in-goal easy! roooaaaar! it's a walrus! ridiculous! yes! nice save, big guy! good job duncan! way to go! [chanting] it's not just easy. it's geico easy. oh, duncan. stay up. no sleepies.

welcome back. we talk all things transportation early on this m sundning. our time is limited, so i want to do kind of a rapid fire and we'll go through the major points and the major transportation issues or controversies thatbeen kind of happening around our

region. let's start with potomac river crossing. do we need another one? kant >> that's a policy decision. >> you're going to defer? you're gng to pass the buck? does it make sense? how about that? >> the transportation planning board examined what the mobility needs are going to be for the region very recently as part of the long-range plan task force. one of the analysis indicated there are a number of nhancement ure strategies that are yet to be fully exploited. thats whereur focus ought to be. >> marty, you'll take a more. definiti i understand why he can't. >> here's what i'll say about the potomac river crossing. we absolutely need more capacity to cross between maryland and nkrginia. i tn the short term the way to accomplish that is to add additional lanes, add additional transit across the american legion bridge. it's also going to need some maintenance, some upgrades, getting a little aged. we need it to last us a couple

hundred more years. with the populationrowth we're expecting, eventually there opportunity more than capacity to american legion. but the third cross suggest a very emotional and controversial issue. what i found is that ife you l sort of inside the circle that it would create, you're probably ag if you live outside, you kind of like the idea. you go to loudon county or montgomery county and you will find some very passionate opinions abo this no matter where you go. >> kelly, i'm sure you hear a lot aut that but a lot don't necessarily want to come all the way down to 270 to cross the belt way to get from one side to next. what is your personal opinion? >> going back to the work we die in long-range planning was to study some of these things od the book look at their potential. that was something that did not rise to the top to be a priority, so i have w to say would like to see more jobs and more populationra conceons around what exists and enhance those things. i'm also very excited about enhancements with bicycling and

walking infrastructure. one particular ofac adv i'm passionate about. we talked about the national capital trail and having that tompletion and then even expanding on t work, the transportation planning board has tasked its staff with connecting the entire region. all jurisdictions within the region and looking at those bicycle networks and making sure err a they're all connected. >> maybe some other things before we get to that. let's talk about express lanes. ve you noticed a difference that express lanes have made in terms of speeds or taking congestion off roads in your analysis of loong at roads, places like 66, 95? >> gly we do see that the express lanes have helped manage the continu growth of demand on the regular lanes. it also has provided, that is planningtransportation strategy has been, we need to

provide our residents multiple t options to m their commuting needs. so in that regard, the express lanes on 95, 395, 495, provides some different options. tois not probably for people use every day, but when you are in a pinch and when you have to be at aertain time or time, so i think thatertainly it provides. so even by taking a small number of trips off of the regularly congested lane, you help improve the speeds and safety of the regular lanes. but it is not a facilityhat everybody can depend -- can plan onry using eday. >> not everybody can pay the toll every day, but you can start a carl. p i always tell people if you want to use the les for free, start a car pool. i'm sure your constituents down

in 95 love it. >> there are still a lot of mixed feelings about the hov lanes on 95. they're oeing expanded the 395. what i will say is it shows that everyone is movingst , whether you're car pooling, whether you're choosing to pay a toll or choosing to stay in the general purpose lanes. the numbers show traffic is better bause of them. here's the data that i love to throw out. ongestion we still experience on the i-95 general purpose lanes, more people move further distances the much higher speeds every day on the express lane and that'st because o massive amount of extra capacity we have to add buses. the commuter services we have in the region, we're continuing to make investments in providing buses as an option on top of car pools and o top of single ochapants. that's we find people want. people want to know they have choices so they can car pool on dayta one the bus day three, drive their own car day four.

>> and you mentioned an interesting topic. telework. i want to get your thoe hts when we cck. stay with us as we continue this special edition, all things transportation. we're back after the break. people aren't talking about how much money they saved buying giant-brand chicken. they're not talking, because they're eating. oh, hello. at giant, it's the little things that make mealtime easy, so you have more time with the people you love.

fresh grab and golking salads and sandwiches. they're not talking, because they're eating. oh, hello. at giant, it's the little things that make mealtime easy, so you have more time with the people you love. elcome back to a special edition of "news for your sunday". i'm adam tuss and we are talking all things transportation. before the break weed menti word i like to talk about a lot but it doesn't get talked a lot around here. telework. as bad as the government shutdown was, we saw the i dramatact it had on traffic and what it can also do fromtro taking people awa the transit system. but telework in its truest essence, tha may be the closest thing we have to a silver bullet, right?y >> i'm v excited you brought

that up, because one of the initiatives in the edvisual 2045 we're taking on is how to increase teleworking. something that som of the smaller jurisdictions have is we don't really have a template. many large corporations have templates on how to teleworks. some of our bmallerinesses don't know how to do that. we're working to create a tempte so people canave a better handle on how to make that happen effectively for them. ti is it because we aren't used to everyone working from home? is that kind of the thing? >> there's a cultural shift that's necessary. the thing i love to point to was the day that the pope visited d.c. a couple years ago where all federal workers were told everyone is teleworking today. it worked. but it took that sort of big culture shift to wake everybody one of our goals is to bring that down to medium sized companies, more to the private sector and take those employees who aren't customer faces and

get them off the road. >> kanti, you can talk about this, but i want to get to another topic. in looking at our airports, which one is functioning best right now? do you have any data that shows that? >> the good news is all three airports are facing healthy usage and the potential for demand. they all have lo-term system enhancement plans. the geographic areas for access around them are very -- because of some ongoing, on site improvements, reagan national airport where for the time being there are some accessibility i issues, but terms of the plans for addressing access is all there, including one of the ects that not only the transportation authority has funded and this discussion was there even before they decided to come to national landing a

that is for providing a pedestrian bridge across u.s. t one connecti the airport. so more connectivity to the airport is whatat reagannal airport has been talked about. >> autonomous cars are going to be revolutionary, yes or no? >> they're going to revolutionize everything. we just don't know how yet. >> amazon is going to be a win for the region, kelly? >> i sure hope so. >> kanti, going forward, let's justalk about all of that together. do you see things getting better in terms of transportation? >> absolutely. i am very positive a hopeful in the outlook for the region's mobility and accessibility. t they're all o same page. they're working with the total commitment towards iroving the mobility and accessibility. >> thank you so much for joining us torsng. great discussion on transportation. you can watch this show andew other 4 your sunday" programs at nbcwanhington.com.

you to the panel. i'm adam tuss. z34hcz z16fz y34hcy y16fy

sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your movement and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 24-month financing on all smart beds. only for a limited time. peomoney they savedng buying giant brand chicken. they're not talking about how our pre-chopped veggies are perfect time-savers. they're also not talking about our unique assortment of over 1,300 nature's promise items. or our fresh grab and go salads and sandwiches. they're not talking, because they're eating. oh hello, that looks so good.

at giant, it's the little things that make meal time easy, so you have more time with the people you love.

arell. a lot to cover on this sunday morning, but, first, let's welcome you in here. thanks for bei with us. i'm adam tuss. >> and i'me