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As construction time nears, Dulles rail project has a lot on its plate
In Tysons Corner, orange safety fences and busy people in hard hats are becoming an increasingly familiar sight in the service roads along Route 7, as utility relocation proceeds in advance of Phase 1 of the Dulles rail project.
“It's starting to look like we're everywhere,” project spokeswoman Marcia McAllister said.
The project got approval to enter its final design phase in May, but construction of the actual rail line cannot proceed until the Federal Transit Administration approves a $900 million full funding grant agreement. In the meantime, project officials are concentrating on preliminary work, such as property acquisition, hiring workers, purchasing rail cars and relocating utility lines in Tysons Corner.
“We're taking all the utilities that are on poles now and putting them underground," project architect Andy Pittman explained.
Sometime next week, that relocation will become more visible when workers for the project cut into the large hill at the base of the prominent SAIC building.
Meanwhile, the rail project has created newer, more detailed renderings of the future stations and sample boards of the kinds of materials that will be used. Those include the tight steel mesh that will screen the station's pedestrian walkways and interior ceilings and floor material, similar to existing metro stations.
“Everything is done for rapidity of construction, to keep time and disruption to a minimum," Pittman said.
“We'll be ready to break ground the day after the full funding grant agreement is announced,” McAllister said.
The Wiehle Avenue station and all stations between Reston and Washington Dulles International Airport will look the same, with a design similar to the Vienna Metro station. Passengers will enter the station and then take an escalator down to the platform.
The four stations in Tysons Corner vary, however, with passengers at the Tysons East station boarding their trains 50 feet above the ground, while riders exiting at Tysons Central-123 will step off a pedestrian walkway into a specially designed section of the Tysons Corner Center.
Rail project planners will publicize new drawings of the stations in a series of outreach meetings later this summer. The project also will formally apply for the full funding grant agreement in August, and is currently gathering information the FTA has requested for that application.
Contact the reporter at mtayloe@timespapers.com
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