Weve been reporting for six or seven years that Arlington Virginia is something of a development won

We’ve been reporting for six or seven years that Arlington, Virginia, is something of a development wonder. Since 1979, when the Orange line opened with five underground Metro stations, the city has gained approximately 20 million square feet of new office space and 20,000 new residential units. Traffic congestion has increased little if at all, and 75 percent of the people who use Metro arrive at the station on foot. This is in an area that used to be heavily automobile-oriented and suburban. Recently, Daniel Malouff, author of the BeyondDC blog, reported on a meeting with Arlington’s Department of Transportation, where more amazing statistics were revealed. 1. Auto traffic counts in the Pentagon City area (of Arlington) are level today compared with counts from 1975. Despite all the development that has occurred there in that time frame, including construction of one of the region’s largest and busiest shopping malls, there has been no measurable increase in traffic congestion. 2. [One thousand] units of urban-format transit-oriented development housing generates fewer auto trips per day than a single suburban-format McDonalds or 7-11. You can build 1,000,000 square feet of residential TOD and generate less congestion than 2,000 square feet of auto-oriented retail.