Politics & Government

How Much Will It Cost to Ride the Silver Line?

Officials give glimpse of Metro fare and other NOVA transportation updates at Tysons Conference.

Northern Virginia will see billions of dollars in transportation projects open in the next two years, with the Silver Line to Reston expected to run trains to Reston early next year and the I-95 Express Lanes reaching completion in 2014.

Virginia transportation gave updates on the new projects at the fifth annual Keep Tysons Moving conference, hosted at the Gannett building in Tysons Thursday morning.

Silver Line

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Construction on Phase I of the Silver Line, which connects Reston and Tysons to the rest of the Metro system, is 94 percent complete, said Marcia McAllister, communications manager for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority will ultimately set the date that the line opens for passengers. Reports of the project’s exact opening date have been mixed between late December 2013 and early January 2014.

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McAllister said the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, responsible for building the line, has laid a total of 124,000 feet of linear track.

She also addressed the line’s parking issues.

“We know that it’s a concern,” she said. “We’re going to depend an awful lot on pedestrians, taxis and new bus routes.”

MWAA also had fare estimates, though they’re subject to change.

As of now, a trip from Reston to Metro Center in downtown Washington, D.C. is projected to cost $5.75. McLean to Metro Center would be $4.50.

I-95 Express Lanes

John Lynch, the Virginia Department of Transportation’s regional transportation director, said construction on the I-95 Express Lanes, a 29 mile stretch of HOV lanes from Edsall Road in Fairfax County to Garrisonville Road in Stafford County, will get more serious this summer.

“We’ve got construction intensifying in our region,” Lynch said. “This summer will be the busiest time for the project.”

Commuters should expect to see workers out on the roads both day and night. They should also get ready for lane closures, Lynch said.

“One big disadvantage if you live south and commute on 95 and 495, you’re going to get hit again,” he said.

But once construction is over in 2014, commuters will have a new set of toll lanes to connect them to the 495 Express Lanes and get them where they’re going faster, Lynch said.

“[Construction is] kind of like bearing children,” Lynch said. “You go through a lot of pain and agony. Once it’s over, you get a nice child – or facility – and then you say, ‘Well that’s not so bad, let’s do it again.’”

Work on the 95 Express Lanes is currently about 35 percent complete, he said.

Lynch and other officials urged drivers to stay alert in construction zones.

“Construction zones are very dangerous,” Lynch said.

AAA Mid-Atlantic and Transurban conducted a study that found 56 percent of I-95 divers are distracted by cell phone use.

Kevin Ginnerty, director of project delivery at Transurban, urged drivers to stay off of their phones when behind the wheel in the coming months.


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