The countdown has begun to the July 26 opening of Metro’s Silver Line. Reston Now will bring you updates on what you need to know as Wiehle-Reston East prepares to open.
Saturday’s ribbon cutting and open house will feature a lineup of VIP speakers, including Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins; Gov. Terry McAuliffe; Rep. Gerry Connolly; Peter Rogoff, U.S. Under Secretary of Transportation; State Sen. Janet Howell; Del. Ken Plum; Del. Tom Rust; Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova; Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust.
The ribbon cutting takes place at 10 a.m. The open house will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors can check out 3,300-space parking garage and dedicated bike room. For more details, read this previous Reston Now article.
Sunday, July 20 begins six days of simulated service, which will familiarize Metro employees and finalize train schedules under real-time conditions. Here is an overview from Fairfax County and Metro of how simulation trains will operate:
- Simulation trains will run between Wiehle-Reston East and Largo Town Center stations at all hours that the Metrorail system is open.
- Simulation trains will run every 6 minutes during rush hour and every 12 to 20 minutes during off-peak times, consistent with the schedule for Silver Line trains once the line opens.
- Simulation trains trains will not carry passengers to or from the five new Silver Line stations. However, passengers will be able to board these trains for travel between East Falls Church and Largo Town Center, in either direction, including all stops along the Orange and Blue lines in Downtown DC.
- Between July 20 and noon July 26, simulation trains will be labeled as Orange Line trains showing a destination of either East Falls Church or Largo Town Center.
- Westbound trains will offload any remaining passengers at East Falls Church and then continue to Wiehle-Reston East without passengers aboard.
The 11-mile rail extension officially opens when the first car will leave Wiehle-Reston East at noon on July 26. More details about opening day can be found in this previous Reston Now post.
Photo: Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (left) and Gov. Terry McAuliffe will be among the VIPs at Saturday’s open house at Wiehle-Reston East/Reston Now file photo
Metro’s Silver Line opens in 11 days, but before you can take the train you have to get to the train.
Fairfax County is holding an open house Saturday to show potential Metro riders their access and parking options.
There will be a ceremonial ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. The open house runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors can tour the transportation center and talk to representatives from Metro, Dulles Corridor Rail Project and Fairfax Connector.
When Phase 1 of the Silver Line opens July 26, Wiehle-Reston East will be the only onsite parking garage at the five new Metro stations in Phase 1.
- 3,300 public parking spaces (eventually there will be fewer when office space at Reston Station is leased)
- 45 “Kiss and Ride” spaces
- 10 bus bays on the north side, 5 on the south
- A secure locker room for over 200 bicycles.
The garage was built as a public- private partnership by Comstock and Fairfax County. The county owns the commuter garage, and Metro will collect parking fees. The rates will be the same as at other Metro garages in the county:
- $4.85 per day
- $65 a month for reserved parking
- $75 a year for using the secure bike room. The $75 fee includes a one-time $15 registration fee and $60 for the first year’s annual membership.
The bike room is the first of its kind for Fairfax County. There will be both vertical and regular parking, as well as room for oversized bikes or bikes with trailers. It features two fully-equipped “fix-it” stations with pumps and tools and a work bench for bike repairs. Additional bike parking is also available for non-members.
The bus station at Wiehle-Reston East features 10 bus bays on the north side of the Toll Road, and five bus bays on the south side of the Toll Road. In addition to Fairfax Connector service, Washington Flyer will operate its Silver Line Express from the north side, and Loudoun County Transit will operate bus service from the south side.
A Connector Store is located on the north side bus platform, where passengers can purchase fare cards, speak to a customer service representative, and find maps, timetables and information.
The current commuter lot, Sunset Hills Interim Park and Ride, will permanently close at midnight on July 25. The 600-space lot at the intersection of Sunset Hills Road and Town Center Parkway was temporary parking while Wiehle was under construction.
Fairfax Connector has also changed its bus routes in order to serve the Silver Line. There will be 16 new routes, changes to 28 existing routes and five routes will be eliminated. The new routes go into effect July 26.
Also coming soon at Reston Station: BLVD apartments (currently under construction), as well as retail, restaurants, office space and a hotel. No tenants have been announced.
Photo: Bike room window at Reston Station garage
Metro is still planning to open the Silver Line on July 26 even though work remains unfinished by Bechtel contractor Dulles Transit Partners.
Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said on Monday that several items DTP should have completed by now are not finished.
One area — the application of heat tape on the third rail — is to be done by the end of July according to the post-operational readiness agreement. Stessel says the heat tape work has not even started.
“It has been disappointing to us to see that the contractor has not been taking advantage of every available work window,” he said. “They could have done much more.”
Stessel said DTP has also not resolved water leaks at several stations. He said that the heat tape, which prevents freezing so it isn’t urgently needed in July, can be applied after opening.
“Our goal has been to get anything that required track access out of the way so it does not affect passenger service,” said Stessel. “Unless they step up their game, we will have them do that during non revenue hours.”
Meanwhile, the Tri-State Oversight Committee has completed its inspections and found no issues, Stessel said. Certificates of Occupancy should be in place next week.
The opening of the $2.9 billion, 11-mile Phase 1 of the Silver Line has been delayed by several months. Many of the delays this spring were due to unfinished items. MWAA (which oversaw construction of Silver Line Phase 1) and Metro reached a special agreement in April to allow the turnover of the project to Metro with unfinished items, provided DTP got the work done prior to passenger service.
As recently as June 9, Metro was expressing frustration at the slow pace of work.
In other Silver Line news:
Simulated Silver Line Service begins Sunday. Trains will run on the same schedule that they will operate after July 26. The trains will not be available for passengers. However, passengers can ride the trains from East Falls Church to Large Town Center as part of Orange Line service. Beginning Monday, July 21, trains at the far end of the Orange Line will run every six minutes during rush hour.
The Metro website has been updated. The online trip planner now includes updated schedule information to include the Silver Line fares and schedules.
Metro alerts have been updated for Silver Line users. If you get Metro Alerts, you can now pick Silver Line info (i.e., delays, issues) to be sent to you.
The first train on the Silver Line will leave Wiehle-Reston East at noon on July 26.
Metro and the Fairfax Connector will run special shuttle buses on July 26 to ensure first-day Silver Line riders get where they need to go.
After an opening ceremony at Wiehle-Reston East, the first Silver Line train will leave that station at noon. From the county:
WIEHLE — WEST FALLS CHURCH: Shuttle buses will operate non-stop between the West Falls Church and Wiehle stations. The first shuttle buses will depart Wiehle for West Falls Church at 7:20 and 7:40 a.m. to meet the first Route 505 and Route 950 bus arrivals at Wiehle. The first shuttle bus will depart West Falls Church for Wiehle at 7:45 a.m. to transport passengers from the Orange Line to Reston and Herndon buses. Wiehle – West Falls Church shuttle buses will operate every 30 minutes from the start of service until approximately 10:45 a.m. and then operate every 10 to 20 minutes until 12:30 p.m.
TYSONS AREA — WEST FALLS CHURCH: Shuttle buses will operate between West Falls Church and the McLean, Tysons Corner, Greensboro, and Spring Hill stations, stopping at each location. The first shuttle bus will depart Spring Hill Station for West Falls Church at 6:35 a.m. to meet the first Route 574 bus arrival at Spring Hill. The first shuttle bus will depart West Falls Church to McLean, Tysons Corner, Greensboro, and Spring Hill stations at 7 a.m. to transport passengers from the Orange Line to the Tysons area. Buses will operate approximately every 20 minutes until 12:30 p.m.
The special shuttle buses will operate on Saturday, July 26 only.
More Silver Line opening news:
Silver Line, Connector Buses Will Link Air and Space Museums
Visitors to the Smithsonian’s Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport now have a public transportation option: taking the Metro.
After the Silver Line opens on July 26, Fairfax County Connector Route 983 will run every 20 minutes from the Wiehle-Reston East Station to the Udvar-Hazy Center.
That means Air and Space enthusiasts will be linked to both museums by public transportation. The Silver Line stop closest to the museum’s Washington location is L’Enfant Plaza, two blocks from its Independence Avenue entrance.
“Bridging the 28-mile distance between our two buildings will help us serve more people,” J.R. “Jack” Dailey, director of the museum, said in a release. “Those who depend on public transportation, including many tourists, will now be able to experience the full breadth and scope of our collection, spanning more than a century of flight. We are grateful to Fairfax County for helping to make this service possible.”
This is also good news for local residents. While admission to the Smithsonian’s museums is free, parking at the Udvar-Hazy Center is $15. Taking the bus from Wiehle-Reston East will save money.
Route 983 will also stop at the Reston Town Center Transit Station, Herndon-Monroe and Dulles International Airport. See more details on the Fairfax Connector website.
When Metro’s Silver Line project received approval for $1.9 billion in federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans last May, it seemed as though funding challenges for the line’s Phase 2 were solved.
But that money may now be in jeopardy, and Rep. Gerry Connolly is urging his fellow Congressmen to act quickly to reach a solution.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has notified all states that restrictions will be placed on their federal highway funds starting Aug. 1 because the Highway Trust Fund, which funds the TIFIA loans, is bordering on bankruptcy. Some experts have estimated the fund needs an infusion of more than $6 billion to move forward.
“The urgency for Congress to address the shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund grows with each passing day,” Connolly said late last week. “Road, bridge, and eventually mass transit improvements in every state are at risk of grinding to a halt in a matter of weeks in the heart of the summer construction season unless we act responsibly to address this challenge.”
While Phase 1 of the $5.6 billion rail line — which is slated to open July 26 — received $900 million in federal funding, Phase 2 originally received none. Many observers, including citizen advocacy group Reston 2020, predicted a large spike in tolls to make up the difference.
Tolls have risen the last three years, but with TIFIA loans in place they would remain frozen for five years, MWAA officials said last spring. Phase 2 is also slated to receive $300 million from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Phase 2 will run from Reston’s Wiehle Avenue to stations at Reston Parkway, Herndon, Route 28, Dulles International Airport and Ashburn. Phase 2 is scheduled to open in 2018.
The Silver Line’s $1.9 billion is to be largest loan in the TIFIA program’s history. Sen. Mark Warner said earlier this spring that the final approval is “great news for the future economic growth of Northern Virginia.”
The Highway Trust Fund is financed through the federal gas tax, which is currently 18.3 cents per gallon, but that surcharge has not been adjusted since 1993 and the tax has lost nearly 40 purchasing power. In recent years, Congress has had to transfer money from the General Fund to keep the Trust Fund solvent.
The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates Trust Fund expenses will exceed revenue starting in August. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the Trust Fund needs an infusion of $6.6 billion to meet its obligations through December.
In Virginia, nearly every mode of transportation will be negatively affected by the trust fund shortfall, said Connolly. Here are some of the other effects if the federal funds fall through, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation:
- 149 bridge replacements would be put on hold
- 175 aging buses and train cars would not be replaced
- 44 smaller transit systems would not be able to maintain service
- 350 other projects would grind to a halt
- 43,000 jobs would be lost
“Roads and bridges are crumbling in the commonwealth and in every other state,” said Connolly. “Our transportation network serves as the backbone of our economy, and it’s only a matter of time before that decay begins to negatively affect our communities and their economic competitiveness.”
Connolly recently cosponsored legislation with Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) to close an offshore corporate tax loophole to replenish the Trust Fund.
Lynn Bowersox, Metro’s assistant general manager for customer service, communications and marketing, answered questions from future Silver Line readers recently in an online chat hosted by The Washington Post.
After five years of construction and more than six months of recent delays, the Silver Line will open on Saturday, July 26, Metro officials said last week. The first train will leave the Wiehle-Reston East station at noon.
Here are some of the chat highlights.
Q: Is this line similar in nature to the MARC, but it just happens to run parallel to the Blue Line in some parts, use the same rails and stations to the Blue & Orange lines?
A: The Silver Line will look and feel just like the existing Metrorail lines. There are five new stations in the first phase — four in Tysons Corner and one in Reston. The line will serve these five new stations, and then connect them via the existing Orange and Blue lines with about 2 dozen other stations from East Falls Church, through Downtown DC, to Largo.
Q: How long will a commute take from Herndon into the city at 7:30 a.m. peak rush?
A: Herndon is part of Silver Line’s second phase, which will open in a few years. If you’d like to check travel times from the Wiehle-Reston East station (closest to Herndon), you can do that here.
Q: Has Metro taken into account the crowds and problems on the Orange Line that will be created by running a full week of non-passenger Silver line testing starting July 20th? Orange line trains will drop back to their planned intervals when the Silver line starts, but there will be no Silver line to supplement. So we will have all the bus riders and people that would otherwise be rerouted from WFC in particular, waiting for trains at least 6 minutes or more apart. It will be a long week for commuters.
A: During the week of simulated service, those “Silver Line” trains will carry passengers between East Falls Church and Largo Town Center. They will be labeled as Orange Line trains through that segment. So, that week, stations like East Falls Church, Ballston and Court House will actually see a service increase.
Q: What percentage of Silver Line riders do you anticipate will be former Orange Line Riders (those for whom the Silver line will be more convenient) as opposed to new riders?
A: About 25-30 percent will be existing (Orange Line) customers. The rest are expected to be new riders to the system.
Q: Will there be parking at Wiehle when the Silver Line begins service? Driving by this weekend, it did not look like the garage was near completion.
A: Yes it will be ready, opening at 9:30 a.m. on July 26. For details, you can visit the LAZ Parking website at lazparking.com. (Reston Now editor’s note: The garage has been complete for nearly a year. What you see under construction is the future BLVD apartments that are located on top of the parking garage.)
Q: Why doesn’t the Silver line just end where it connects with the Orange line and trains turn around to head back the other way towards Reston East (and eventually Dulles and beyond)?
A: I believe this option was studied as part of the planning/environmental work that was done before the line was constructed. Such an option would not attract as many riders, would result in a less convenient travel experience, and would have the effect of creating crowded platforms at East Falls Church.
Q: Will the Silver Line opening during the summer months while a percentage of people who normally commute are on vacation help or hurt as the bugs are worked out of the system? Fewer passengers might mean that fewer people are delayed if there are issues but fewer people might also mean that it won’t get a real stress test from peak passenger demand.
A: I think it will definitely help for the reasons you’ve noted in your question. We know from experience (e.g. Rush Plus) that commuting habits are slow to change. It gives us an opportunity to ramp up to full ridership over the next year.
See the full chat transcript on the Washington Post site.
Photo: Silver Line commemorative SmarTrip card/Credit: Metro
The first day of Silver Line service on July 26 will be the last day for the Sunset Hills Interim Park and Ride Lot, Metro officials said.
The lot at 12050 Sunset Hills Road has been a parking lot for commuters who took the Fairfax Connector Bus to the West Falls Church Metro.
Commuter parking will now be replaced by the 3,300-space parking garage adjacent to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station at Sunset Hills Road and Wiehle Avenue.
Fairfax Connector’s Route 505 will continue to operate, taking passengers from Reston Town Center to Wiehle-Reston East.
Many other bus routes will take people from Reston stops to Wiehle-Reston East. To see the full route schedule, visit Fairfax Connector’s Reston page.
Riders can also learn more in an online chat Fairfax Connector is hosting on Wednesday, July 9. For more information, visit Ask Fairfax!
Other Silver Line news to know:
Fairfax County will hold a ribbon cutting and open house for the Wiehle-Reston East garage at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 19. The ribbon cutting will take place in the Kiss-and-Ride lot.
The Silver Line grand opening will take place Saturday, July 26 at 10 a.m. The first trains will leave the station at noon. Parking in the garage will be free, as it will all weekends.
Metro is running a sweepstakes to pick some of the first riders. There are also commemorative SmarTrip cards available for $10 (with $8 of fares loaded).
The Silver Line Metrorail extension will open for riders on July 26! For those of us who have been looking at the seemingly completed infrastructure for many months, announcement of the actual date that we can ride this important new service for our community is welcome news.
Having worked on bringing Metrorail to Reston and beyond for the last 20 years, I am especially excited about the opening. In the 1990s, I was the lone politician calling for rail service in the Dulles Corridor while some dismissed the idea as a pipe dream.
In order to develop support for the rail project, I enlisted the help of business and community leaders who supported the idea. In August 1998, I announced the formation of the Dulles Corridor Rail Association (DCRA) as a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group supporting rail in the Dulles Corridor. Joining in the announcement were professional planner Patty Nicoson, who became president of the group and continues in that capacity today; former Delegate Vincent Callahan, who demonstrated bipartisan representation; former Virginia Secretary of Transportation John Milliken; and Restonians Joe Stowers and Steve Cerny, among others.
We set to work, with letters and opinion columns, testimony at public hearings and a variety of advocacy activities that built support for the project. The task was not easy and not without setbacks. While there was widespread agreement about the need for more public transit options in a metropolitan area that had outgrown its transit service planned for in the 1960s, we had to convince some elected leaders that rail was justified over simply expanded bus service or bus rapid transit.
The idea of putting the extension in a tunnel sounded attractive, but was cost prohibitive. Commercial interests were agreeable to additional taxes to help pay for the system, but the project had to be broken into two phases to accommodate when a business interest would start paying an additional tax and when they would receive service. Toll increases on commuters were projected to be unbearably high requiring DCRA to successfully lobby for more direct state appropriations to keep tolls down.
With no direct financial support for the project and a 2010 goal to deliver a completed system, the 30 men and women who made up the original board and those who have joined and left since that time are to be thanked and congratulated. I am honored to continue to serve as chairman of the board of DCRA.
The Silver Line will not be a silver bullet to solve all our transportation woes. We still live in an area ranked 10th in the country for the worst traffic! Rail and bus riders will be asked to make adjustments; drivers may have to change their commuting habits; and some will complain about tolls and fares. Even so, the Silver Line brings a critically important part of infrastructure to our area that will add to our quality of life in getting to and from work and taking advantage of the rich educational and cultural resources of our region and our nation’s capital.
Ken Plum represents Reston in the Virginia House of Delegates
Metro officials said on Monday they “remain confident” that all punch list items will be completed before Silver Line service begins on Saturday, July 26.
Lynn Bowersox, Metro assistant general manager for customer service, communications and marketing, says four items were closed out in the last week. However, about 20 punch list items (down from 35) still need to be completed, she said. Many are multistep items, she added.
“We are working closely with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the FTA [Federal Transit Administration] and the Tri-State Oversight Committee to complete the punch list items, obtain the certificates of occupancy and finish safety and security reviews. We remain confident the work will be completed.”
After months of delays, Metro last week finally set an opening date for service on the 11-mile, $2.9 billion Phase 1 of the Silver Line, which will run from East Falls Church to Reston’s Wiehle Avenue.
Bowersox said Metro and public safety officials successfully completed their final safety exercise on Sunday. The first responders practiced an emergency drill on the elevated tracks near the Spring Hill Station.
Metro is now looking ahead to the opening day schedule. Here are some things to know:
There will be a grand opening and ribbon cutting with local officials at the Wiehle Reston East Station at 10 a.m.
If you want to be one of the first riders, you are encouraged to board at McLean, Tysons Corner, Greensboro or Spring Hill. Those stations will open at 11:30 a.m. The first train will leave Wiehle-Reston East at noon. It will arrive at Spring Hill at 12:08 p.m., Greensboro at 12:10 p.m., Tysons Corner at 12:12 p.m. and McLean at 12:14 p.m, then continue on to regular stations along the Silver and Orange lines.
On opening day in Reston, Fairfax Connector buses will take people to the Wiehle-Reston East parking garage and to points on both the North and South sides of the station. The 3,300-space garage will open at 9:30 a.m. on July 26. Parking will be free that day as it will be on all weekends.
There will be a ribbon cutting and transit fair at Wiehle-Reston East on Saturday, July 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors can check out the facilities, including the 200-space bike room.
If you want ensure you are one of the first Silver Line riders, subscribe to the Silver Line Bulletin, where you will be entered into a sweepstakes to be among the inaugural riders.
Metro will also be issuing a commemorative SmarTrip. The card will cost $10 and it will be loaded with $8 of fare value, said Bowersox. Cards will be available at all stations and online beginning July 26.
Photo: Silver line Commemorative SmarTrip card/Credit: Metro
The Silver Line is opening on July 26. Want to be one of the first riders?
Metro is holding a sweepstakes to randomly select 10 lucky winners to participate in the grand opening ceremony and ride on the first Silver Line train.
Each winner and a guest will receive reserved seating at the opening event, a ride on the first train, and an unlimited Metrorail one-day pass for travel to and from the inaugural activities.
“We know there are many people who have been following this project and are anxious to be among the first to ride on the Silver Line,” says Lynn Bowersox, Metro Assistant General Manager. “This is one of the ways for the public to participate in the grand opening and an opportunity for Metro to say thank you to our riders.”
Here is how to enter: Visit silverlinemetro.com/
Metro officials say they will have more details about the opening ceremony next week.
The long-awaited Silver Line will carry riders to four stops in Tysons Corner and one in Reston, at Wiehle-Reston East. The $2.9 billion Phase 1 is more than six months behind schedule.
With the Silver Line opening on July 26, Metro has unveiled three new television ads to spread the word about the 11-mile extension that will bring rail to Tysons Corner and Reston.
The 15-second commercials — that have a little sarcastic spin to them — will begin airing on local TV later this week, encourage residents to “look alive, good times are ahead. The three subjects are apparently very bored Northern Virginians who can look forward to life-changing good times and increased access to employment, entertainment, and shopping without the hassles of traffic or the expense of gas and parking with the Silver Line.
“Now that opening day is in sight, it’s time to get a little excited,” Lynn Bowersox, Metro Assistant General Manager, said in a statement. “These ads are intended to showcase the benefits of the Silver Line and get the word out about the opening date.”
From Metro:
Metro has been conducting outreach to educate current and prospective Silver Line riders across the region for several months, distributing more than 100,000 pieces of information at stations and community events, sporting venues and area festivals. The information includes a Silver Line brochure and an updated Rider’s guide featuring the new system map.
A special website, silverlinemetro.com, has detailed information regarding the five new stations, parking and biking, fares, and points of local interest.
“The campaign moves us from ‘how to ride’ to ‘why to ride’,” said Bowersox.
In addition to the broadcast ads that will air on local television stations in English and Spanish, print ads will appear in July in five languages in community papers, business publications, and online news sites. Movie theater and radio promotions will roll out later this summer, as will post cards mailed to homes near the new stations. Metro will also utilize transit advertising space in its stations and on its buses this summer to promote the Silver Line, Bowersox said.
Metro’s Silver Line will at long last begin service on Saturday, July 26, Metro officials said on Monday.
Metro General Manager and CEO Richard Sarles says he is satisfied with the progress contractor Bechtel has made in fixing remaining issues, and the 11-mile extension from East Falls Church to Reston’s Wiehle-Avenue will soon be open for business.
MWAA still needs to obtain Certificates of Occupancy from the commonwealth as well as some final test results, said Sarles. There will also be a public safety drill at the Spring Hill Station this weekend and a week of simulated service beginning July 20.
“There is an unlikely possibility that something can pop up between now and then,” Sarles said of the target date of July 26. “But would not be announcing this is a target date if I did not feel we were there. … We look forward to welcoming passengers.”
Metro will host an inaugural ceremony on July 26. All five stations will be open, and the first passengers will leave Wiehle-Reston East at noon that day, Metro officials said.
The wait has been a long one for area Metro riders. Work began on Phase 1 of the rail extension more than five years ago. This is Metro’s first new line since 1991.
While no official opening date was ever set, initial forecasts were for the Silver Line to open in late 2013 or January of 2014.
However, construction delays and issues have pushed it back more than six months. As recently as two weeks ago, Metro officials were saying they were disappointed in the progress that Dulles Transit Partners, the Bechtel division that built Phase 1, were making in completing a list of remaining fixes on the $2.9 billion Phase 1. Read More
Now that the Silver Line is in the final stretch towards opening, Metro and Fairfax Connector want to familiarize residents with bus routes that will serve the stations.
The opening of Phase 1 Metro’s $2.9 billion rail extension that will run from East Falls Church to Reston’ Wiehle Avenue is more than six months behind schedule.
However, Metro officials said on Monday that fewer of 10 punch list items need to be completed. If that gets done promptly they will set an opening date early next week. That means the first Silver Line riders may be boarding as soon as July.
Wiehle-Reston East will be the end of the line until at least 2018, when Phase 2 is slated to be completed. In Phase 2, the rail will go to Reston Parkway, Herndon, Dulles International Airport and into Loudoun County.
Until that happens, Wiehle will be a busy hub. It is the only Phase 1 station with parking. More than 3,000 spaces are in the parking garage at the intersection of Sunset Hills Road and Wiehle Avenue. Parking will cost $4.75 a day. There is also parking for more than 200 bicycles.
Despite the parking, Metro and Fairfax County transportation officials are encouraging Metro users to take a bus to the station.
Things to know:
The Silver Line will be serviced by several bus providers. Metro bus will provide service to and from the McLean and Tysons Corner stations; Fairfax Connector will take riders to all five stations; Potomac and Rappahannocok Transportation Commission will provide service to the Tysons Corner station; and Loudoun County Transit will provide service to Spring Hill and Wiehle-Reston East stations.
Fairfax Connector has added new routes, made changes to existing routes and eliminated some routes in preparation for the Silver Line’s opening. To see if your route is affected and to see which bus route is most convenient for you, visit www.silverlinemetro.com.
Buses will also play a critical role in connecting riders to Dulles, said Jack Requa, Metro’s assistant general manager of bus services. Options to Dulles include the 5A bus from L’Enfant Plaza in D.C. (with stops at Roslyn and Herndon-Monroe Park and Ride); Fairfax Connector buses 981 and 983 will depart Wiehle-Reston East with stops at Herndon Park and Ride and the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Museum; and the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority will run the Washington Flyer Silver Line Express from Weihle-Reston East to Dulles.
Fairfax Connector routes 505, 981 and 983 will also go from Wiehle-Reston East to Reston Town Center. Buses that formerly carried passengers from Reston stops to Blue and Orange line stations will now go to Wiehle-Reston East. Visit Fairfax Connector’s website to see all area routes.
If Silver Line contractor Dulles Transit Partners finishes the work on the final “seven or eight” items this week, an opening date for service will be set on Monday, says Metro General Manager Richard Sarles.
“We are in the final stretch,” Sarles said in a call with reporters today.
A week ago, Metro Deputy General Manager Rob Troup said DTP, the Bechtel unit hired by Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority (MWAA) to build the 11-mile Phase 1 rail extension from East Falls Church to Reston’s Wiehle Avenue, had only completed about half of the items that must be done before passengers can ride.
Metro obtained control of the Silver Line May 27, starting a 90-day testing and training period. However, MWAA and Metro agreed in April that certain items could be completed after the handover but before passenger service begins.
There has been at least one report that the Silver Line will begin service the last week of July. While the Silver Line is more than six months behind schedule, an opening date for service has never been set. Silver Line officials would not confirm the July speculation on Monday. However, that may turn out to be correct if progress is made this week.
“We have date we plan against, but when you set a firm date, it is based on progress you have made,” said Sarles. “If the is done [this week], my level of confidence will be high enough to establish a firm date for revenue operation.”
Among the items to be completed: obtaining certificates of occupancy; finishing painting tunnel handrails; testing of fiber optic cable; and testing of intrusion and fire alarms, said Sarles.
There will be a public safety drill on June 29 at the Spring Hill Station. There will also be a week of simulated service before passengers can ride the Silver Line.
