Video: First Pike ‘Super Stop’ Nearing Completion

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by ARLnow.com October 1, 2012 at 12:45 pm 4,492 49 Comments

The first of 24 planned enhanced transit stops along Columbia Pike is less than a month away from opening.

On Sept. 19, a canopy was installed at the prototype “Super Stop” near the intersection of Columbia Pike and Walter Reed Drive, in front of the Rite Aid pharmacy. When the stop is finished — it’s currently slated to open in late October — the stop will feature lighting, maps, screens with real time bus arrival information, heating and shelter for 10-15 passengers.

The Walter Reed Drive stop is one of four Super Stop locations selected for a pilot program. Other Columbia Pike Super Stops that are part of the pilot program are: Columbus Street, Dinwiddie Street and Barton Street. Together, the four stops serve more than 2,000 passengers per day, according to Arlington County.

Other future Super Stop locations include the former Navy Annex, Courthouse Road, Glebe Road, Monroe Street, George Mason Drive, Taylor Street, Buchanan Street and Greenbrier Street.

The video above, produced by Arlington County, shows the installation of the new canopy at the Walter Reed Drive stop.

BrianKal

how will they prevent this from becoming a homeless ‘shelter’ too?
- OK I’ll Bite
  
  By having a propoer shelter for the homeless that isn’t a bus stop.
  - WestoverNative
    
    +1
    - Of course
      
      The two are completely mutually exclusive.
southie

Why they didn’t set this back so that buses could get out of the travel lane I don’t know. #opportunitymissed
- jackson
  
  Won’t need it to be when the trolley comes by instead (just getting that out since we know it’s coming.)
- Not so fast my friend…
  
  Taking the bus out of traffic, and requiring it to get back in, causes bus delays. Basically, they are prioritizing the bus, and later the streetcar, higher than car traffic.
  - as it should be
    
    20+ people should get priority over 1-2 people in a car
    - Not so fast my friend…
      
      I have no issue with it. Just stating facts, albeit with poor grammar.
    - GodFila
      
      By this logic, bicyclists will be at the bottom of the totem pole…
      - SeeTheBRTCreep
        
        its not so much one bus vs one car, but the same street space – even one bus versus two or three cars, the bus is still more throughput. Bike vs car, you can squeeze in more bikes than cars.
- SouthPikeGuy
  
  Just drive around the bus when it stops. Problem solved.
meh..

Longest small construction project EVAR.
You’d think they were building the Taj Mahal.
- BrianKal
  
  surprised it is not being overseen by WMATA, the only people who take 2 years to fix an esclator
- Not Me
  
  I agree. With labor and materials I would be interested in knowing how much one of these puppies cost the ever-generous Arlington tax payers.
  - John Fontain
    
    The estimate was $715,000 per bus stop. Knowing how estimates go, the actual cost will likely be substantially higher. And those are probably just direct costs. Add in county overhead for planning/supervision and you are looking at some seriously expensive bus stops.
    - John K
      
      Ridiculous. It’s a BUS STOP! The only improvement that might have approached necessary would have been enlarging the shelter so that the commuter crowds might get a bit less wet on rainy days. Maybe. What a waste. Jesus, this county…
      - CrankyMetrobusRider
        
        Actually, the REAL improvement would be for WMATA to get its consistently-late buses to run on time (*gasp!*), and then one could plan one’s commute accordingly and wouldn’t have to wait more than a few minutes at a stop, thereby rendering the perceived need for bus stops unnecessary.
        
        BUT since that will never happen: People could (*gasp!*) actually dress appropriately for the weather. If it’s 20º out and you know the bus could be 20 minutes late; wear long underwear; a hat; and a long, heavy coat, etc.
      - John K
        
        Well that would just make sense. We can’t have that. I must say, I disagree with your timeliness assessment. Sometimes they run early, too, if they are coming in from Annandale and the traffic lights have been favorable.
      - CrankyMetrobusRider
        
        Early is just as bad, and they should slow the heck down if they’re running early. (Other jurisdictions will do that, and yet I see Metrobus drivers come early and then drive over the speed limit. Unexcusable.) Being early can be even worse than late, in some cases. For instance, let’s say you ride a route where the bus runs every 30 minutes. Let’s then say, it’s 20º some winter morning, and the bus you need comes 7 minutes early (not unknown to happen) but you’re en route to the stop and get there 5 minutes before the scheduled time, so you’re early, but you’ve missed the bus and are now late for wherever you were going because the driver wouldn’t slow down. Then let’s say (and this happens a lot!) the next scheduled bus comes 20 minutes late. So by the time a bus arrives, you’ve then been standing at the stop in 20º weather almost an hour when it ordinarily would have been five minutes.
      - John K.
        
        Yep. Those are the days I just say @#$ it and drive. I don’t use my car that often, but it does come in handy.
  - bobbytiger
    
    You want to see “ever-generous” (?), just wait for the tally on the bond issues next month.
- It Is SUPER
  
  “You’d think they were building the Taj Mahal.”
  
  It is a SUPER stop !!
Westover Leftover

Please remind me how much this will cost?
- SeeTheBRTCreep
  
  “we could get all the benefits of the street car by doing the same improvements for bendy buses – that would save money”
  
  “okay, lets start building those improvements and let buses use them”
  
  “wait, those improvements are too expensive, lets not build them at all, that would save money”
- Sam
  
  Probably no more than the cost for providing roads for those who choose to drive one person per car.
OUT OF STEP

haha.
Frank#2

well, it does have high performance coating.
Frank Lloyd Wright

Is the chain link fence part of the architecture?
Ted

Remind me why we “need” trolleys on the Pike.
- Not Me
  
  Good point.
- Sam
  
  Why do we “need” anything? Folks who live in Arlington and work in DC could bike to work, but they “need” a roadway or “need” the Metro. Not to get all existential.
  
  With that said, some people “want” streetcars because they are a proven way to improve quality of life and increase high-end development. As many have posted here before, it is difficult to sell a new condo with “It’s near a bunch of bus lines.”
GodFila

Don’t we already have one of these by the Weenie beenie
(sick)?
PStreetPaul

Lipstick on a pig.
- Resident
  
  I wish people would stop using this phrase in discussions. It’s not clever or insightful.
  - What’s Shakin’
    
    How about “lingerie on a hog” ??
Not Me

I hope it’s worth it…. There have been 10+ workers on this job site for over 4 months at God knows what cost.
Sam

So, I do think this is a positive move forward, but I have been living off the Pike for almost a year now and this site has been in the works the entire time. Just wondering how long it is going to take to install 24 of these at this rate.
Columbia Piker

How does it take over a year (+/- 2 months) to build a bus stop?!?!
John Fontain

Maybe this bus stop should be the site of the lond-discussed first ARLnow happy hour. Bring your own 40!
- nom de guerre
  
  .40 cal. or 40 oz. or both?
  - John Fontain
    
    We’ll need the guns to shoot the empties once we’re done guzzling them down.
INS Please

I hope the INS is provided a desk at the bus stop.
- DeportEmAll
  
  +1000
Dave in SA

Anyone know what this is costing? They have been working on this for 2+ months. (For a bus stop?)
- You Must….
  
  You must be new to Arlington….worrying about cost, hah !!
Dennis

I drove by this super stop last night. It didn’t look very big or that hard to build. What took them 4 months?
- YTK
  
  Haha– it was supposed to be “completed by January 2012” – they broke ground in Oct or Nov of 2011. What a waaaaste!!!!
Richard

I hear they’re starting on the pool and exercise room this week. Seriously, its a BUS STOP! Why is it taking 12 years to build? I could have opened and closed 10 tasteless terrible restaurants in the area in that time.

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