Looks like Dulles Rail may be off again as The Washington Post reports on the Virginia Supreme Court allowing a lawsuit to move forward. Rep. Jim Moran calls this a "big defeat."Looks like Dulles Rail may be off again as The Washington Post reports on the Virginia Supreme Court allowing a lawsuit to move forward. Rep. Jim Moran calls this a "big defeat."
When will we have closure to this whole effort? If this thing gets built, which is a big "if," then the longer it takes, the more expensive it becomes. There will be cost overruns. It seems like the strategy is to let this bleed itself to death and be so untenable an option because of the cost. It'll be interesting to see what happens, especially as Tysons developers gear up for major density increases based on rail, as the Post recently reported.
Or will they build with or without rail?
No ability for express trains, no headway in the downtown tunnels, no undergrounding through Tysons, no cap on the Dulles tolls, no bid contract.
It will give mass transit a bad name and make the Big Dig look efficient and cheap.
Will someone please pull the plug on this thing?
I too have concerns about the no-bid contract, and wish it were underground. But in no way I would call this a white elephant or a boondoggle. If the contract had been competitively bid, and there were a tunnel through Tysons, it wouldn't change anything related to any of your other arguments.
The lack of express trains is part of the design of THIS PROJECT. A design that permanently precludes express trains from being added later.
In other cities with elevated tracks, it took a century and a lot of disruption of other stable neighborhoods to relocate the elevated tracks to an underground alignment. But that happened only after the presence of the elevated rail contributed to the near total deterioration of the adjacent neighborhoods.
Because of the lack of headway downtown, every train added to the silver line means one less train on the orange, blue or yellow lines. The Rosslyn tunnel and the downtown area of Metro is at capacity!
The overruns (which always happen) will be funded by limitless increases in tolls with no accountability to the roads users.
All of these elements are locked into this projects designs now.
This project is motivated by the increase FAR and a desire to check a box on a mythical checklist rather than to create an effective transportation project.
If this proposal goes forward as presently conceived, our grandchildren will be trying to fix our mistakes and cursing our obstinacy.
I am not aware of anyone who suggests that the entire extension be underground. The debate about a tunnel only concerns a section in Tysons that is roughly 2 miles long. The rest of it is above ground in the median strip of the Toll Road.
Even if this project gets shot down, the developers will still make tons of money - they will just build more auto-friendly things that will lead to more gridlock. The idea here is to try and create walkable communities that don't require that people have to drive everywhere.
If you propose gutting the entire thing and starting over from scratch, then you are really advocating pushing this out 10-20 years.
The section to be underground or at grade in Tysons was more than two miles. As currently designed, there will 5-6 miles of continuous elevated rail and platforms through an established area. That does not exist anywhere in Metro.
I didn't suggest the entire extension be underground. We agree that there's no need to do that in the median of the Toll Road and Greenway.
The FFX Comp Plan only allows the increased density with rail. No rail, no density.
There exits no "walkable city" in the world that covers as many square miles as Tysons does. There exits no "walkable community" with an interstate interchange in the middle, as the Route 123 & Route 7 interchange occupies Tysons center point. Putting the barrier of an elevated transitway in those medians will only inhibit "walkability" and "imagability."
It will be an albatross around all of our dreams for a desirable, attractive downtown for FFX if built as currently proposed.
Often criticized as an ugly "edge city," Tysons Corner could be the national model for suburban transformation. With so much possible, aiming high can not only yield a compelling vision but also bring that vision to fruition. Otherwise, why bother?
The question is, do ANY of our leaders have "a compelling vision" for Tysons? Do ANY of our leaders have the skill and the determination to see that vision become reality? Or, are we going to be stuck with a second-rate, second-class piece of junk that people will scratch their heads about in 10, 20, 50 years? Those are our choices right now, which one will we make?