The Silver Line is a
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
line of the
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,[Google Books search/preview ...](_blank)
system, consisting of 34
stations
Station may refer to:
Agriculture
* Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production
* Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle
** Cattle statio ...
in
Loudoun County
Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun C ...
,
Fairfax County
Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...
and
Arlington County
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
,
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, as well as
Prince George's County
)
, demonym = Prince Georgian
, ZIP codes = 20607–20774
, area codes = 240, 301
, founded date = April 23
, founded year = 1696
, named for = Prince George of Denmark
, leader_title = Executive
, leader_name = Angela D. Alsobrook ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. The Silver Line runs from in Virginia to in Maryland. Five stations, from both lines' eastern terminus at Downtown Largo to , are shared with the
Blue Line alone; thirteen stations, from to , with both the
Orange Line and Blue Lines; and five stations from to with the Orange Line alone. Only the five stations of Phase 1, which began service on July 26, 2014, and the six stations of Phase 2, which began service on November 15, 2022, are exclusive to the Silver Line.
The portion of the Silver Line between its split from the Orange Line and is entirely in Fairfax County, Virginia and was constructed as Phase 1 of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project.
Phase 2 expanded the line another to Ashburn in Loudoun County via
Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located in Loudoun County and Fai ...
. The $6.8 billion Silver Line is Metro's largest expansion by route mileage since its inception in 1976.
History
Planning
The
federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
, which owned and operated Dulles Airport before Congress created the MWAA, built the Dulles Access Road in the 1960s to connect the airport to Washington, D.C. by way of
Virginia State Route 267
State Route 267 (SR 267) is a primary state highway in the US state of Virginia. It consists of two end-to-end toll roads – the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Greenway – as well as the non-tolled Dulles Access Road, which lies in the ...
. As the access road was built, the authorities opted to reserve the
median
In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...
of the road for some form of rail transit,
and the nearby
West Falls Church station
West Falls Church is a Washington Metro metro station, station in Idylwood, Virginia, Idylwood, Virginia on the Orange Line (Washington Metro), Orange Line, the first station inside the beltway on the Orange Line going east. It is one of only tw ...
was designed so that the line could eventually be extended in this direction. The original 1968 Metrorail plan included an eventual extension to Dulles airport. In 1969, U.S. Senator from Virginia
William B. Spong Jr.
William Belser Spong Jr. (September 29, 1920October 8, 1997) was an American Democratic Party politician and a United States Senator who represented the state of Virginia from 1966 to 1973.
Biography Early life and education
Spong was born in P ...
tried unsuccessfully to have the extension to Dulles be built as part of an early stage of the system rather than having it be built at some unspecified time in the future. A 1971 study of the feasibility of Metrorail running to Dulles estimated that 30,000 people would ride the extension each day.
In 1995, the
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...
authorized the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to provide for "additional improvements to the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Access Road corridor including, but not limited to, mass transit, including rail and capacity-enhancing treatments from surplus net revenues of the Dulles Toll Road".
In 1998,
Raytheon
Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliza ...
engineers and constructors proposed to build and operate a Dulles Corridor
Bus Rapid Transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
(BRT) system.
In January 1999, the Tysons-Dulles Corridor Group (which included
Bechtel Corporation
Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. , the ''Engineering News-Record'' ranked Bechtel as the sec ...
and West*Group) offered a competing BRT proposal that would ultimately extend the rail line to Ashburn.
[ These proposals prompted the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to evaluate the merits of BRT and heavy rail public transit in the corridor.
]
Local residents and officials had talked of a Metro extension to Dulles since the Washington Metro began service in 1976,[ but significant planning did not begin until 2000. The Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project "scoping" process began in April 2000 with a series of meetings with local and federal officials, designed to collect the necessary authorities for the project. Local and federal law required extensive ]Analysis of Alternatives The Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) in the United States is a requirement of military acquisition policy, as controlled by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It ensures that at least three fea ...
– the two most likely being bus lanes or inaction – and of the environmental impact. The rail-only line won over the other alternatives. Initial environmental hearings, which closed on August 28, 2002, were positive. Although planners originally considered ending the first phase at Tysons, state officials decided that the first phase would end at Reston's Wiehle Avenue, partially to reassure the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority that the line would eventually run to Dulles Airport. The project received formal approval on June 10, 2004.[
In February 2005, the CTB approved a 50 cent increase in the Dulles Toll Road toll rates, effective May 22, 2005, and "reaffirm dthat no less than 85% of existing surplus Dulles Toll Road net revenues shall be dedicated for mass transit and rail in the ullesCorridor" and provided "that all additional toll revenue generated from the May 22, 2005 toll adjustment shall be dedicated to the etrorailProject." Between July 1, 2003, and November 1, 2008, when the toll road was transferred to MWAA, over $138 million in net surplus toll revenue (together with accumulated interest) was provided to MWAA for the Silver Line project.
]
Financing
Although the original financing plan called for a 50-cent toll increase on the Dulles Toll Road to finance the Silver Line (25 cents at the main plaza and 25 cents at the ramp plazas), the increase in projected costs resulted in the MWAA Board approving an increase in the surcharges. Effective January 1, 2010, the fare surcharge was increased to 50 cents at both the main plaza and ramp plazas, with additional 25-cent increases in main-plaza tolls set for 2011 and 2012. These toll surcharges are designed to support MWAA's 52.6% share of the projected $5.25 billion combined cost of Phase 1 and Phase 2. MWAA has justified these toll increases as necessary to meet an estimated $220 million in annual debt-service costs projected by 2020. These toll revenue requirements were based on the assumption that the federal government, although it contributed $900 million to Phase 1, would not contribute funds for Phase 2.
As a result of the surcharge increases, the toll in 2012 was $2.25, or 16 cents per mile (1.6 km). The toll increase proposal drew 221 public comments and opponents outnumbered supporters by about 3 to 1. However, as the cost estimate grew from $5.25 billion to $6.8 billion, no final decisions have been reached to address the projected shortfall.
Tysons Corner tunnel dispute
Early plans called for a tunnel running from the east of the station to the west of the station, and for all four stations on that stretch to be below ground. When the contractor hired to design the Silver Line – a consortium of Bechtel and Washington Group International
Washington Group International was an American corporation which provided integrated engineering, construction, and management services to businesses and governments around the world. Based in Boise, Idaho, WGI had approximately 25,000 employees ...
– found the costs to be too high, the design was changed to use a short tunnel, running only between the and stations (underneath higher ground) with all four stations being at or above ground. In March 2006, the contractor was ordered to examine an alternative "large bore" tunnel digging technique (successfully used in Europe) with the potential to lower costs of a tunnel through the entire Tysons section. The contractor found that there would not be a significant cost reduction and proposed staying with the short tunnel option.
After allegations that the design contractor had inflated costs for the tunnel in order to avoid sharing the job with an outside tunneling contractor, the long tunnel concept was revived in April 2006. The allegations led to calls for an outside cost estimate to determine more realistic tunnel costs. On May 15, 2006, Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer announced the creation of an advisory panel headed by the American Society of Civil Engineers
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
. The panel had about two months to evaluate options for completing the line through Tysons, with the results presented to the state on July 27, 2006 and published on July 31, 2006.
On September 6, 2006, Virginia Governor
The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022.
Oath of office
On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine (; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virgini ...
announced his decision in favor of an elevated track through Tysons. In his statement, Kaine said he believed a tunnel would be the best option, but decided against it, citing a fear of losing federal funding for the project.
Shortly after Governor Kaine's decision, the Greater McLean
MacLean, also spelt Maclean and McLean, is a Goidelic languages, Gaelic surname Mac Gille Eathain, or, Mac Giolla Eóin in Irish language, Irish Gaelic), Eóin being a Gaelic form of Johannes (John (given name), John). The clan surname is an A ...
Chamber of Commerce
A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...
formed a coalition of tunnel supporters, called Tysons Tunnel, Inc. and put forth a technical proposal to help revive consideration of building a tunnel through Tysons. The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation
Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States.
According to its web site, the state agency's mission is "to improve the mobility of people and goods while expanding ...
hired an independent consultant to assess the coalition's proposal. However, the consultant's report – sent to Secretary Homer on March 7, 2007, stated that " ere is a significant risk that the project cost of a Large Bore Tunnel would not meet the Federal Transit Administration
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...
's cost-effectiveness ratio criteria, which could compromise federal funding for the project".
On November 26, 2007, Tysons Tunnel, Inc. filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
and the Federal Transit Administration
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...
(FTA) in the Eastern District of Virginia
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, H ...
challenging the denial of their petition to reopen and consider additional evidence regarding the benefits of a tunnel over the aerial option. Gary Baise, the Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
challenger to Gerry Connolly
Gerald Edward Connolly (born March 30, 1950) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district, first elected in 2008. The district is anchored in Fairfax County, an affluent suburban count ...
's Fairfax County Board of Supervisors
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, sometimes abbreviated as FCBOS, is the governing body of Fairfax County; a county of over a million in Northern Virginia. The board has nine districts, and one at-large district which is always occupied by t ...
Chairmanship, represented Tysons Tunnel. By 2010, Tysons Tunnel, Inc. ceased operations.
Start of construction was delayed as approval of the $900 million federal contribution to project costs awaited the conclusion of FTA's review of the proposal submitted by Virginia. Elected officials of the state, including Governor Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine (; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virgini ...
and U.S. Senators John Warner
John William Warner III (February 18, 1927 – May 25, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1979 to 200 ...
and Jim Webb
James Henry Webb Jr. (born February 9, 1946) is an American politician and author. He has served as a United States senator from Virginia, Secretary of the Navy, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Counsel for the United States ...
, arrived at the FTA on January 24, 2008, to address last minute concerns by FTA staff and administrators. FTA Administrator James Simpson presented Governor Kaine with a letter that contained stark criticisms of the project as presented. The project as presented was given a "medium–low" rating (projects must receive a "medium" or higher rating to be approved under the Federal New Starts Funds project) and determined ineligible to receive the $900 million in federal funding. FTA's concerns included the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority's inexperience in large design-build contracts, an exaggeration of funding numbers from the Dulles Toll Road
State Route 267 (SR 267) is a primary state highway in the US state of Virginia. It consists of two end-to-end toll roads – the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Greenway – as well as the non-tolled Dulles Access Road, which lies in the ...
and an inability for Metro to maintain the line once it had been built. Virginian leaders vowed to address the concerns by January 28, 2008, as several fixed price contracts for building materials costs were due to expire on February 1. Governor Kaine requested an extension of the deadline to February 1, which was granted by the FTA.
On April 30, 2008, the FTA reversed the earlier decision and approved the above-ground project, saying that it met standards for cost efficiency, construction and ridership, moving it closer to receiving the $900 million in federal funding. Officials told ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' that the project would move into the final design stage. The FTA approved funding for the project on December 4, 2008.
On March 10, 2009, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
Raymond H. LaHood (born December 6, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 16th United States Secretary of Transportation from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the I ...
signed the formal agreement that awarded the $900 million promised by the federal government for construction of the Silver Line, with major construction expected to begin in several weeks. Utility relocation work started at Tysons in mid-2008.
Construction
MWAA planned to award a separate design-build contract for Phase 2. The Phase 2 contract was awarded in May 2013 and the projected completion date was to be in 2018. However, it was later extended to January 2019.
Although construction was planned to begin in 2005, the delays in approval of funding pushed back the start date. To facilitate Silver Line construction, responsibility for the project was transferred on November 1, 2008, from the Virginia Department of Transportation
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is the agency of the state government responsible for transportation in the state of Virginia in the United States. VDOT is headquartered at the Virginia Department of Highways Building in downtown ...
(VDOT) to the MWAA. Utility relocation work began in 2008, and construction began on March 12, 2009.[
The extension runs in its own ]right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
on a route similar to that of the Dulles Access Road, running both at grade and via aerial structures. The only significant diversions from the access road route are for the stops in Tysons and at Dulles International Airport, where the Metro is currently planned to alternate between subway and elevated track to maintain the exclusive right-of-way.
Service on Phase 1 of the Silver Line opened on July 26, 2014 between and Largo Town Center, with five new stations being added to the existing network west of East Falls Church. The full line to Ashburn, including a station at Dulles International Airport, was at the time expected to be completed in 2018.
One lane of southbound Virginia Route 123 in Tysons was closed for a two-year period, starting on February 22, 2010, for construction of the McLean Metro station. The distance impacted was two blocks, from Scotts Crossing Road to the Capital Beltway
The Capital Beltway is a Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area that surrounds Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. It is the basis of the phrase "inside th ...
.
Pier support
When the Orange Line was originally constructed in 1977, foundations for the bridges to carry the Silver Line over I-66 to the median of the Dulles Access Road were built up to ground level. These foundations included steel piles that were driven into the ground and capped with concrete. However, detailed records for these original foundations were lost. As a result, engineers asked for the foundations to be inspected by digging around them to determine the condition of each pile under the concrete foundation caps.
Some of the foundations are located in confined spots adjacent to I-66 and the electrified third rail
A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway t ...
of the Orange Line, making access difficult. Dulles Transit Partners offered to inspect seven foundations that were easily accessible, but the FTA insisted that all foundations be tested. Dulles Transit Partners and MWAA agreed to test all foundations before the bridge piers were built upon them. This required the portion of the Orange Line between the West Falls Church and East Falls Church Metro stations to be taken out of service on weekends while the tests were conducted. All foundations were acceptable and the bridge construction proceeded using the existing foundations.
Controversy
There has been controversy over the contract between the MWAA and Dulles Transit Partners, which consists of Bechtel
Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. , the ''Engineering News-Record'' ranked Bechtel as the sec ...
and Washington Group International
Washington Group International was an American corporation which provided integrated engineering, construction, and management services to businesses and governments around the world. Based in Boise, Idaho, WGI had approximately 25,000 employees ...
. The $2.7 billion project was originally awarded by VDOT under the Virginia Public-Private Partnership Act, rather than by using conventional competitive bidding based upon a detailed specification. As a result, the contractor is allowed to both design and build the project with no upper cap on its cost. Problems could arise from the arrangement where MWAA is supervising the design and construction but ultimately WMATA must operate the Silver Line. The contract provides for price escalation of $3 million to $6 million a month for delays. VDOT transferred the contract to MWAA when MWAA took over the project in November 2008.
Opening of Phase 1
The original schedule planned for revenue service to begin in 2013. The contractor reported to MWAA on February 7, 2014, that construction was complete. MWAA had fifteen days to review the documentation and decide whether it agreed, but on February 24 they announced that the contractor had failed to meet seven of twelve criteria outlined in the contract.
On March 19, 2014, MWAA announced additional delays in the project due to public address speakers and a communications cable that did not meet code and did not offer a new completion date. They hoped to turn it over to WMATA by April 9, 2014. WMATA requires an additional 90 days for testing and training. The system then underwent 90 days of testing and staff training. This suggested, at the time, that the line could open as early as July 4, 2014. On May 27, 2014, WMATA was handed over control of the line, with service to begin "within 90 days". Finally, on June 24, 2014, it was revealed that the official opening date for the first five stations had been set for July 26.
After a set of speeches and announcements prior to opening, which were televised on local cable television station News Channel 8
WJLA 24/7 News is an American regional cable news television channel in Washington D.C. by ABC-affiliated station WJLA-TV (channel 7) owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The channel provides 24-hour news coverage primarily focused on Washing ...
, and attended by the Governor of Virginia
The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022.
Oath of office
On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...
, Terry McAuliffe
Terence Richard McAuliffe (born February 9, 1957) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 72nd governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 ...
, Metro General Manager Richard Sarles, the entire Metro board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
, District of Columbia Mayor Vincent C. Gray
Vincent Condol Gray (born November 8, 1942) is an American politician who served as the mayor of the District of Columbia from 2011 to 2015.
He served for one term, losing his bid for reelection in the Democratic primary to D.C. Council member ...
, and other regional politicians, a ribbon cutting took place at , and shortly after noon on July 26, 2014, the five new stations were opened for passenger service.
Although the Silver Line attracted riders, its average weekday boarding was 17,100 during its first year of operations instead of the projected 25,000 riders.
Effect on the Metro map
Metro's iconic rail map, in distribution since Lance Wyman
Lance Wyman (born 1937)[Case Study: Lance Wyman](_blank)
''WebEsteem Art & Design Magazine'', 2004 ...
and Bill Cannan (Wyman & Cannan) designed it in 1976, takes – according to some observers – a "pop art" approach to representing its subway network. The Metro rail map uses thick strokes to mark its radial lines. To fit in the current space and make use of the iconography as currently proportioned, the map relies upon the fact that no more than two lines overlap at any single location. The addition of the Silver Line creates a three-line overlap from Rosslyn to Stadium–Armory, a fact that led WMATA to publicly announce in 2010 that it was considering a new map design. A number of unofficial attempts by graphic designers to redraw the Washington Metro map to include the Silver Line have done so by thinning the strokes throughout.
In 2003, predating Booth's attempt, WMATA released a professionally designed graphic that displayed the Silver Line on an unofficial map that resembled the current version, but with thin lines. The interplay between Metro's unofficial proposal and those of other designers received attention in a number of press outlets. A poster displaying a map of similar design has been hanging in DC Councilman Jack Evans' office for a number of years, but received scant attention until 2008. Wyman, one of the original designers of the map, was confirmed as the layout specialist who would be redesigning the map by ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' on June 4, 2011.
A thick-line version of the map, released as part of Metro's Rush Plus plan, showed the Silver Line spurring off the Orange Line between the Ballston and stations in a northwesterly direction, with five unlabeled stops (the Phase 1 stations). The final map released for the Silver Line's Phase 1 opening features the stations shared by the three lines as normal stations, with the dots signifying stations located on the colored line in the center and small white stubs extending from the center dots into the adjoining colored lines.
Phase 2: Dulles extension
While construction of Phase 1 to Wiehle–Reston East was under way, the funding and planning of Phase 2 through Dulles Airport continued. This included the adoption of a special taxing district by the Town of Herndon and a public planning forum. Early cost estimates for Phase 2 had been $2.75 billion; however, a group of consultants increased the estimate in 2010 from $3.44 billion to $4.1 billion.
On April 6, 2011, the MWAA Board voted 9 to 4 to build an underground station located from the airport terminal rather than an above-ground station away from the terminal. The underground station would be more convenient to travelers, but would come at an additional cost of $330 million and would extend the construction time of the project, delaying the expected opening to mid-2017. Republican former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell
Robert Francis McDonnell (born June 15, 1954) is an American attorney, businessman, politician, and former military officer who served as the 71st governor of Virginia from 2010 to 2014. His career ended after his corruption scandal and convic ...
opposed the decision to build a more expensive underground station and threatened to withhold support for the project. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood
Raymond H. LaHood (born December 6, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 16th United States Secretary of Transportation from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the I ...
offered to mediate the dispute. On March 7, 2012, the projected $3.8 billion cost for Phase 2 was reduced to $2.7 billion with the elimination of the underground station at Dulles Airport and other cost savings.
The extension of the Silver Line to Dulles and Loudoun County was in jeopardy until July 3, 2012, when the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors
Loudoun County, Virginia is divided into eight magisterial districts: Algonkian, Ashburn, Blue Ridge, Broad Run, Catoctin, Dulles, Leesburg, and Sterling. The magisterial districts each elect one supervisor to the Board of Supervisors whi ...
voted 5 to 4 to extend the line to Dulles Airport and into the county. On April 25, 2013, the Phase 2 contract was issued at a cost of $1.177 billion. On August 20, 2014, the United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
announced that Phase 2 would be funded with a $1.28 billion Transportation Infrastructure Financial Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan. This delivers part of an approximately $1.87 billion combined commitment of TIFIA loans for Phase 2, which represents the largest TIFIA assistance for a single project in the program's history.
Cracks were discovered in some concrete support girder
A girder () is a support beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a stabilizing ' ...
s in July 2015, causing work to be temporarily halted. By July 2016, 30% of the Phase 2 project had been completed. The contractors reported that significant progress was made with regard to the structure of the line. By March 2017, completion of Phase 2 construction had reached 56% with work on the rail yard
A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or u ...
at Dulles Airport reaching 46%, 76% of deck spans being poured, and all aerial guideway girders over the Dulles Access Road near Saarinen Circle being set in place. MWAA reported that crews would soon begin installation of pedestrian bridges at the five stations under construction in the median of the Dulles Access Road and the Dulles Greenway.
By January 2018, it was reported that 76% of Phase 2 construction was completed. However, a few months later it was discovered that multiple sections of cement walls of the new Metro stations were poorly designed, making them prone to water infiltration. Construction contractors took action to fix the problem and said it would not impact the extension's projected 2020 opening. The contractor Capital Rail Constructors (CRC) and the supplier Universal Concrete pledged to fix the problem, and CRC also committed to spraying the concrete with a special sealant every 10 years as needed. Later, in May 2018, the federal district court in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...
unsealed allegations by a former employee at Universal Concrete Corporation that precast concrete used in five of the six Phase 2 Silver Line stations had been produced from aggregate from a different quarry than the one specified in construction contracts. Officials took four core samples from each of the five affected stations for microscopic testing to determine whether the panels complied with project requirements. That July, the governments of Virginia and the United States sued Universal Concrete for providing false records and defective materials. In September 2018, it was revealed that about 400 of the concrete rail ties on Phase 2 were defective, in that they caused the rails to bend outward. However, Metro and CRC were not able to agree on a solution before that December.
Despite these controversies, progress of the extension's construction steadily approached completion throughout the rest of the year, reaching 78% in June, 86% in September and 92% by January 2019. A month later, it was deemed that the extension would be ready for testing that would last for several months, starting with two recently retired 5000 series railcars towed by a diesel to clean the third rail while it is disabled, before energizing it to allow for more dynamic train testing. Despite reports of trouble that prevented early test trains from going so far, testing eventually continued throughout the expansion and into Dulles Airport in March. The following month, progress of construction reached 95%.
In June 2019, an updated estimation of Phase 2's completion was made, stating that it could be ready for service at about the third quarter of 2020. In August 2019, MWAA announced that Phase 2 would open around mid July 2020 but WMATA expressed some doubts. Towards the end of the year, after considering the pace of the work being done and efforts to address outstanding issues, Metro officials then announced that the second phase may not be ready for service until about September 2020. During a Metro board meeting in December 2019, officials floated the idea of fully replacing the defective concrete panels provided by the MWAA during construction, instead of just repairing them. Should these plans go through, Phase 2's launch date may be pushed back by another year from September 2020.
By early February 2020, it was reported that construction was 98% complete. However, by the end of March 2020, while determining a budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year (and having taken the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
into consideration), Metro re-evaluated the timetable for the second phase's launch and anticipated it would be ready for service on April 1, 2021.
From March 26, 2020, until June 28, 2020, trains were bypassing , , , , , , , , and stations due to the local impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the Washington D.C. area. All stations reopened on June 28, 2020.
On April 23, 2020, WMATA announced that Silver Line service would be suspended beginning on May 23, 2020, in order to rebuild stations west of Ballston–MU station
Ballston–MU is a side-platformed Washington Metro station in Arlington County, Virginia, United States. The station opened on December 1, 1979, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The station serves ...
and to complete the second phase of the Silver Line. This was in part due to the historically low ridership numbers for the transit agency due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, traffic free highways, and WMATA wanting to get around the clock maintenance done; it would be easier for work to be done without any riders or trains interfering with the workers. They offered local bus service from Wiehle, Greensboro, Spring Hill, Tysons, McLean, and East Falls Church to Ballston. Originally, WMATA planned on reducing Orange and Silver Line trains while continuously single tracking at East Falls Church instead of a full closure. Later that summer, while the Silver Line was closed, work began on integrating Phase 2's computerized control systems with those of the rest of the Metrorail system, a crucial step towards its completion. Phase 2's train control systems were finally integrated with that of the Metrorail system by the end of August and three more days of closures took place in November and December for final dynamic testing. On June 24, 2020, WMATA announced that Silver Line service would resume three weeks early when trains are able to bypass East Falls Church station
East Falls Church is an island-platformed Washington Metro station in Arlington, Virginia on the Orange and Silver Lines. East Falls Church station is the last aboveground, at grade, or open cut station for eastbound trains. East of this stati ...
. All Silver Line service resumed on August 16, 2020, when Silver and Orange Line trains were able to bypass East Falls Church. East Falls Church reopened on August 23, 2020.
In September 2020, the Metro Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported that more cracks were discovered in five of the six new stations on the second phase and wants the concrete panels to be replaced before the WMATA Board accepts responsibility and opens the new extension. In light of ongoing issues, as well as budget cuts resulting from declining ridership caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Metro pushed back the opening of the Phase 2 extension first to July 2021, and on December 15, 2020, to Fall of 2021.
On December 14, 2020, WMATA announced that Blue Line service would be suspended between February 13 to May 23, 2021, in order to rebuild the platforms at both and . Silver Line trains would run in place of the Blue Line every 12 minutes during the weekdays and 15 minutes on weekends while bypassing Addison Road. In early 2021, construction completion of Phase 2 reached 99 percent. As of March 2021, Phase 2 was projected to open to passenger service in early 2022.
On November 4, 2021, MWAA declared the work on the rail line to be "substantially complete"; however, WMATA estimated that it could take five months of testing and other preparations before passenger service could begin.[Silver Line extension to Dulles inches closer to completion after years of delay]
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
, November 4, 2021 The expansion took another major step towards completion and opening for service the following month with the completion of the rail yard, followed by initial tests of the full Phase 2 route days later. WMATA took control of the expansion in mid-January and is conducting a final round of testing for several months before it can be opened for service. After all the tie-in procedures were completed, WMATA took control of all remaining work to be done for Phase 2 and conducted a final round of testing before it could be ready for service. In January 2022, the opening was to be ready for service in May 2022 after four months of testing. In early March 2022, Phase 2 was projected to open in July 2022. However on March 24, 2022, general manager Paul Wiedefeld announced that the projected opening would be delayed once again and declined to give an estimated date of completion.
In June 2022, interim general manager Andy Off announced that WMATA was moving closer to announcing a completion date and expected to takeover the Phase 2 project in the next coming weeks. On June 23, 2022, WMATA announced that it had taken over control of the Phase 2 project from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is an independent airport authority, created with the consent of the United States Congress to oversee management, operations, and capital development of the two major airports serving the U.S ...
. Final testing of Phase 2 was scheduled to occur throughout early October via the actual running of empty trains throughout its course, and Metro expected all safety certification for this expansion to be completed around the same time before it finally opened for service. On September 22, Metro's board of directors voted unanimously in a meeting to authorize current general manager Randy Clarke to determine the opening date for Phase 2. Simulated service testing began operating along the Phase 2 tracks between October 3 and 17, 2022.
Following these simulated runs, WMATA announced that the extension would likely open before Thanksgiving, with one final impediment towards opening of service being a shortage of available 7000-series trains that could service it after a derailment near the Rosslyn station a year prior put most of them out of service, with plans to restore them hampered by conflicts with the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission.
On October 31, 2022, WMATA announced the extension would open on November 15, 2022. The extension opened on time following an opening ceremony held at Dulles International Airport station.
Route
The Silver Line has two primary goals. The first is to link Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
by rail to Dulles International Airport
Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located in Loudoun County and Fai ...
and the Northern Virginia edge cities
''Edge city'' is a term that originated in the United States for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional downtown or central business district, in what had previously been a suburban residential or ru ...
of Tysons, Reston, Herndon
Herndon may refer to:
People
* Herndon (surname), an American surname
* Herndon Davis (1901–1962), American artist, journalist, illustrator, and painter
Places in the United States Communities
* Herndon, California, an unincorporated commun ...
, and Ashburn __NOTOC__
Ashburn may refer to:
Places Canada
*Ashburn, Ontario
United States
*Ashburn, Georgia
*Ashburn, Chicago, Illinois, a community area
**Ashburn (Metra), a Metra station serving the area
* Ashburn, Missouri
* Ashburn, Virginia, an unincorpo ...
. The second is to spur urban development in Tysons and reduce overall reliance on highway traffic in the business district, Virginia's largest and the 12th-largest in the country. The district's area is comparable in size to downtown Washington, D.C., but is rather insulated from its surrounding neighborhoods and its streets have no existing grid pattern. The Silver Line also improves public access to the Udvar-Hazy Center
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous e ...
, an annex of National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States.
Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...
located near Dulles Airport; after the opening of the first phase of the Silver Line, Fairfax Connector
Fairfax Connector is a public bus service provided by Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, and is managed by the county government. The bus system provides service within Fairfax County, and connects to Metrobus, Metrorail stations, Virgini ...
began running shuttles to the museum from .
The pre-existing portions of the Silver Line opened as the Orange and Blue Lines on July 1, 1977, from to , on December 11, 1979, from Rosslyn to Ballston, November 22, 1980, from Stadium–Armory to , June 7, 1986, from Ballston-MU through and December 18, 2004, from Addison Road to . Unlike all prior segments of the Metrorail system, which were designed and constructed by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States Con ...
(WMATA), the Silver line was designed and constructed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is an independent airport authority, created with the consent of the United States Congress to oversee management, operations, and capital development of the two major airports serving the U.S ...
(MWAA) and is operated by WMATA. The first phase of the project was funded 43% by $900 million of federal funding, 28% by a special tax district on commercial property proximate to the Silver Line route and 28% by a $0.50 toll increase on the Dulles Toll Road
State Route 267 (SR 267) is a primary state highway in the US state of Virginia. It consists of two end-to-end toll roads – the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Greenway – as well as the non-tolled Dulles Access Road, which lies in the ...
(State Route 267, SR 267). Funding for the second phase of the project is shared by Loudoun County, Fairfax County, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the MWAA.
While the Silver Line's eastern terminus was originally planned at , the plan was changed in 2012 for the line to instead originate at because Stadium-Armory's pocket track
A pocket track, tail track, or reversing siding (UK: centre siding , turnback siding) is a rail track layout which allows trains to park off the main line. This type of track layout differs from a passing loop in that the pocket track is usually ...
is too short for trains to turn around. Traveling westward through the District of Columbia, the Silver Line shares the Blue and Orange Line tracks. It continues through Arlington along the Orange Line and branches off immediately east of the Orange Line's station. The new tracks run in the median of the Dulles Connector Road (SR 267) to an elevated bridge, which takes them over SR 123. Two elevated stops along the west side of Route 123 serve the national headquarters of Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in McLean, Virginia with operations primarily in the United States. It is on the list o ...
, SAIC and two enclosed Tysons Corner shopping malls. The tracks then enter a tunnel which emerges in the median of SR 7. Two elevated stations above SR 7 serve the western section of Tysons. The elevated track then swings back into the median of the Dulles Access Road and Phase 1 terminated at Wiehle-Reston East.
In Phase 2, the Silver Line continues west in the Dulles Access Road's median until the airport. Along the way, four additional stations were built with platforms in the median of the road and a faregate and pedestrian bridges to parking areas elevated above the highway. In anticipation of the station being built, in 1999 Fairfax County constructed a 1,750-space parking garage with ramps to Dulles Access Road's toll lanes and this facility was used for bus commuters on an interim basis during Phase 2 construction. The garage drew criticism because of alleged construction flaws. As originally planned, upon reaching the airport the track enters a tunnel which follows the path of the arrivals driveway of the airport terminal to a station located close to the terminal. The track leaves the tunnel near the airport hotel and economy parking lots and heads north parallel to the main runways. A storage yard and maintenance facility branches off to the west occupying the airport's buffer zone north of the end of its major runways. The final two stops are in the median of the Dulles Greenway
State Route 267 (SR 267) is a primary state highway in the US state of Virginia. It consists of two end-to-end toll roads – the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Greenway – as well as the non-tolled Dulles Access Road, which lies in the ...
, serving the Ashburn __NOTOC__
Ashburn may refer to:
Places Canada
*Ashburn, Ontario
United States
*Ashburn, Georgia
*Ashburn, Chicago, Illinois, a community area
**Ashburn (Metra), a Metra station serving the area
* Ashburn, Missouri
* Ashburn, Virginia, an unincorpo ...
suburb. Hence, the line is expected to draw both airport traffic and commuters from the far western suburbs of Washington. D.C.. Buses previously provided these users with limited public transportation. In contrast, the Silver Line will eventually provide trains once every six minutes during rush hours and once every fourteen minutes during non-rush hours.
Metro's new 7000-series cars were ordered at a price of $3 million per car, 64 of which are for Silver Line service. The contract was signed on July 2, 2010, for 428 cars.
Stations
Stations are listed by their approved names.
Future
Wolf Trap station
Wolf Trap is a proposed Washington Metro station in Fairfax County, Virginia, on the Silver Line between Wiehle-Reston East and Spring Hill. The station would be located in the central median of Virginia State Route 267 (Dulles Access Road) at ...
was originally proposed as part of Phase 1 between Spring Hill station
Spring Hill station (preliminary names Tysons West, Tysons–Spring Hill Road) is a Washington Metro station in Fairfax County, Virginia, on the Silver Line. Located in Tysons, it began operation on July 26, 2014. The station is located in the ...
and Wiehle-Reston East station, but that station was excluded from the project due to profitability concerns.
A study published in 2013 overseeing a long-term plan for the system subsequent to the Phase 2 extension plans to Ashburn included a possible three-station extension of the Silver Line northwest to Leesburg, which is the seat of Loudoun County
Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun C ...
. The stations from northwest to southeast are VA 7 Bypass, Crosstrail Blvd and Belmont Ridge. The same study included either adding an infill station
An infill station (sometimes in-fill station) is
a train station built on an existing passenger rail, rapid transit, or light rail line to address demand in a location between existing stations. Such stations take advantage of existing train serv ...
between Tysons Corner
Tysons, also known as Tysons Corner, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, developed from the corner of Chain Bridge Road ( SR 123) and the Leesburg Pike ( SR 7). Located in Northern Virginia between the c ...
and McLean
MacLean, also spelt Maclean and McLean, is a Goidelic languages, Gaelic surname Mac Gille Eathain, or, Mac Giolla Eóin in Irish language, Irish Gaelic), Eóin being a Gaelic form of Johannes (John (given name), John). The clan surname is an A ...
, or renaming the former, to allow transfer with a loop line that would parallel the Capital Beltway
The Capital Beltway is a Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area that surrounds Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. It is the basis of the phrase "inside th ...
, named the "Beltway Line". This station would be named Beltway and 123.
In December 2019, WMATA began to study changes to the Orange, Blue, and Silver lines to relieve congestion at Rosslyn station
Rosslyn is the westernmost station on the shared segment of the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines of the Washington Metro. It is located in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, United States. Rosslyn is the first station in Virginia ...
. Each proposed option would involve the construction of a new Rosslyn II station that would be connected to the existing Rosslyn station, allowing one of the three lines to be separated from the other two lines, increasing capacity of the station. Two of the options proposed would involve that line being the Silver Line. In one option, from west to east, the Silver Line would run express from West Falls Church to the Rosslyn II station, with a single intermediate stop at a new Ballston II station. Then, the Silver Line would run along new tracks to a new station at Georgetown, followed by several new stations under M Street NW to Union Station. The Silver Line would then travel north-east to new stations in Ivy City, Port Towns, Hyattsville, and finally to new College Park II and Greenbelt II stations. In the second option, from west to east, the Silver Line would remain unchanged in Virginia until reaching the Rosslyn II station, after which point it would travel along new tracks to Georgetown, followed by several new stations under M Street NW to Union Station. Then, the Silver Line would travel north-east through Ivy City, Port Towns, Landover Hills, and finally intersect the Orange Line at New Carrollton.
See also
* Second Avenue Subway
The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan. The first phase of this new line, ...
(New York)
* Purple Line (Maryland)
The Purple Line is a light rail line being built to link several Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.: Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park, and New Carrollton. Slated to open in 2026, the line will also enable riders to move between the ...
* Red Line Extension (Chicago)
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project
Silver Line system map
{{authority control
Public transportation in Maryland
Public transportation in Virginia
Public transportation in Washington, D.C.
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
Railway lines in highway medians
Dulles International Airport