Reaching speeds of 31 miles per hour yesterday, a twin-hulled catamaran made a trial run from Quantico to Washington, D.C., in less than an hour. “Not bad,” said Alan Gray, president of MetroMarine, a joint venture partner in the Potomac River Express. “Fifty-eight minutes from Quantico. Beats the blazes out of Route 1, doesn’t it?”
The test cruise was the first of many before Potomac River Express will start carrying commuters, but the performance in rainy and choppy conditions was encouraging. As envisioned, the proposed commuter ferry would target Department of Defense workers, civilian and uniformed commuters who travel the Interstate 95 corridor, reports the Manassas Journal-Messenger.
Richard W. Hausler, the developer of Harbor Station in Woodbridge, is also involved in planning the commuter ferry route and an accompanying dock at Harbor Station. “This is about revisiting the river,” he said. “This is the first step in that effort to try some water transportation.”
If successful, the Potomac River Express could provide a template for other ferry routes. To generate sufficient traffic to support the service, there must be a population mass at both ends of the trip. Existing urban centers — Washington, D.C., downtown Norfolk — could anchor one end of the ferry routes. It’s possible that large, mixed-use developments like Harbor Station, where the ferry dock is within walking distance of hundreds or thousands of residents, could anchor the other end.
