Nonsense. Metro is not a disaster. Our traffic is a disaster and the traffic is only going to get worse. Anyone who doubts that should spend a week driving I-66, I-95, I-395, I-270 or the Beltway during "rush hour" -- i.e., roughly 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. And the major bailout routes are just as bad.
Metro does suffer from a major deferred maintenance problem, which is to say, a governance problem. The current mess has been predicted for many years. For literally decades, Metro management has been warning about deferred maintenance. But year after year, come budget time, the authorities prioritize union pay and benefits over maintenance, while the multiple jurisdictions quarrel over the funding formula. It's as if the Titanic deliberately set course for the iceberg the moment it left Southampton. It took a near-disastrous fire a couple of years ago to snap the politicos out of their stupor. We're now doing a major rehab, which is causing disruption.
There are nearly ten million people in the Washington-Baltimore Combined Statistical Area. There is no easy, silver bullet solution to the transportation mess. The car addicts are now talking about adding yet another lane to various of our rush hour gridlock corridors, which will burn through far more money than rehabbing Metro will cost, and will have zero effect on relieving the mess. The reality is that people are going to have to start living closer to their jobs. The most important "transportation" priority should be focusing on building neighborhoods that make this an attractive and affordable option. This includes fixing the public schools, which I believe will require full school choice. Vouchering the schools would be the best single thing we could do to reduce transportation gridlock; people shouldn't have to flee to Urbana, Spottsylvania County or Loudon County to find a public school system that they can trust
That's a very unpopular opinion among people who cannot afford guarded and gated communities, and Sidwell Friends for their children. It may be a correct opinion but unpopular.
I say moved the jobs. Break up the federal government, at least to other parts of the US, before DC looks like Trantor (from the Foundation series).
There was an enormous amount of transportation funding in the recent budget deal. Surely DC is in line for some of that.