The Washington Post's Marc Fisher on why Major League Baseball should just say no to relocating the Montreal Expos to Washington's Northern Virginia suburbs:
To get to a night game at Virginia's Ballpark, the proposed home of a new baseball team near Dulles Airport in Loudoun County, an office worker in Washington would have to fight through 77 minutes of stop-and-go traffic, a whopping 13-minute savings from the slog up to Baltimore's Camden Yards. Can you spell non-starter?I timed the haul to Virginia's leading stadium site on a typical late spring evening, and the trek out to the rock quarry where Route 28 meets the Dulles Toll Road convinced me of the folly of a suburban location with no Metro access, no alternative to driving and virtually no chance that anyone might pop over to the ballpark on a lark some evening.
The drive time from Maryland's Montgomery County would be even worse -- believe me, as I made the evening commute from work in Gaithersburg to my home in Reston for about two years before starting my new job downtown late last month.
Public transportation doesn't provide much of an option either. Everyday, my commute takes me from Reston to Downtown Washington and back again -- with a round trip total of about 1 hour on Metro's Orange Line and Fairfax Connector bus. Extending that service to the stadium site in Virginia would add about another 15 minutes to either end of the trip.
There's really only one choice for a ballpark in the area, and it's the District or nothing. And that's coming from a Reston resident who would have an easy 15 ride to the park on weekend game days.
The only thing I’d say in response is that the Northern Virginia fans are the ones who have the toughest time getting to Orioles games. If you work until 5, you’ll often miss the first inning or two.
I don’t mind having a No.Va. team and giving D.C. fans an option.
Of course, when federal and local politicians finally decide that the capital of the free world needs to have an actual train system in place, things will be a little easier.
For mass transit purposes alone, the site on New York Ave and N. Capitol St makes the most sense. A walking bridge would be put in place between Union Station and the new stadium; and local residents can take the Red Line to the New York Ave. Metro (opening this summer) to walk the 2 blocks to the stadium.
I’ve got a feeling this could happen.