| Chamber
Reviews Metro Plans |
By Jackie Allder
Observer Staff Writer |
| Members of the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce took a
virtual ride on Metro's "Silver Line" Thursday as they were
updated on the progress of the plan to bring Metro to Reston
and beyond. |
| "We are on the verge, after 45 years of talking about it,
of actually starting construction on this project," said Marcia
McAllister, communications manager for the Virginia Department
of Rail and Public Transportation, to a packed crowd at the
Sheraton Reston Hotel. |
| McAllister said the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Dulles
Corridor Metrorail Project are moving forward with aboveground
rail plans running through Tysons and eventually to Loudoun
County and the Dulles airport. The aerial alignment, she said,
is the one that has been approved by the region's leaders
and they are not proceeding with the tunnel option. |
| Currently, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority
is in negotiations with the Dulles Transit Partners, and after
that is complete, project officials hope to file for the $900
million grant from the federal government this summer, according
to McAllister. |
| "We anticipate being under construction this time next year,"
she said. |
| The so-called Silver Line (an exact name has not yet been
given) would branch off the Orange Line between the East and
West Falls Church stops, cutting through Tysons Corner. Phase
I will have five stops and be about 11.6 miles. |
| Four stops are planned in Tysons Corner, with the main stop
being Tysons Central 123. "This definitely will be the busiest
station," she said. None of the Tysons stops will have commuter
parking lots, McAllister said. |
| "The goal of the rail project was not to bring cars to Tysons,
but to bring people to Tysons," she said. She said studies
have shown that about 50 percent of traffic in Tysons comes
from the east, and "a lot of those people live along the Orange
Line." |
| Before reviewing the stops, McAllister said the region is
known as having the third worst traffic in the nation. "Building
rail to Dulles is not going to solve all of the problems,"
she said. But, she said, this is part of the solution. Other
parts include teleworking, the Virginia Railway Express, and
bus service in the county, among other things, she said. |
| After the Tysons stops, the train would move along the Dulles
Toll Road toward Wiehle Avenue, which is the last planned
stop in Phase I. Phase II stops include Reston Parkway, Herndon-Monroe,
Route 28, Dulles Airport, Route 606 and Route 772 (Ryan Road).
|
| All of the stops would have pedestrian bridges to allow
access to the stations, McAllister said. The architectural
design of these bridges is similar to the architectural features
at the Dulles airport, she said. |
| McAllister said although there have been some delays in
the project, "the current plan still calls for opening of
Phase I in 2012." |
