Metro Rail System (Reston, Herndon, Fairfax: condo, house, construction)

[Leerinsmom]

Does Reston and Herndon have a rail system that goes to DC?

[richmondpics]

Not yet.... both will eventually, thanks to the Dulles metrorail expansion which will be complete around 2015.

[5stones]

not yet. it's in the planning stage!

They are trying to get it to run to Dullas and that would help soooo much. Hopefully the first stage getting a stop in Tysons will happen sooner rather than later. So in 10years...it will probably run all the way to Sterling and Dullas.
Right now Vienna west is the outer most Fairfax stop (i believe)

Here is the website...streets are there so finding something close by a stop is easier!
http://www.wmata.com/maps/metrorail_street_map.cfm

[jb124]

What I did when I lived in Reston was to take the Fairfax Connector (bus) from outside my condo to the West Falls Church Metro station and ride on the train from there. It was very convenient and MUCH cheaper and less stressful than driving in every day.

Both Reston and Herndon have Park & Ride lots with bus terminals with express busses to WFC Metro.

[roanoker 4]

wow....I hope I live to see a METRO extension to Dulles Airport!!
We have heard that now for 30 years! The state of VA is so far behind on supporting transportation it is unbelievable!! ANYTHING they can do to get people from Dulles airport to downtown would be an improvement. I read about 5 years ago that an elevated type bus was a sure thing. We can't believe anything that is said about METRO in northern VA...(Or in the rest of the state about transportation for that matter).

[claremarie]

The Metro extension is going to happen. The project has been approved, with a lingering "under or over" controversy to be sorted out.
Dulles is 30 miles from downtown. Any way you slice it, it's going to be difficult to get people out there. Personally, I think that the Dulles Toll Road works pretty well. And my experience working in DC was that most frequent travelers took cabs even to National, which is also served by Metro.

[ashbrn4]

I did get tired of the above or below ground argument about the Tyson's portion of the project. I live about 2 miles from the end of the plannned line in Loudoun County. While I hope sooner rather than later to have the option to take it into Tyson's and the city, I'm not planning my life around it either. Because of the expasion, it may mean our house values will go even higher than they otherwise would have, but it also means more development here.

The metro out to Dulles and beyond to Loudoun is basically a done deal, except for some details so hopefully we'll see some construction in the next few years.

[saganista]

The Silver Line will definitely happen, apparently with the mini-tunnel option running about 1000 feet under Rte. 123 and then another 1000 feet under Rte 7. The contract to design and build Phase-1 (out to Wiehle Avenue) was completed at the end of March. Construction should begin next Spring. It's supposed to be done by 2013. Phase-2, which will extend out through Dulles to the Greenway at Ryan Road, is scheduled for completion in 2015, but that's not a sure thing. On the plus side, once construction actually starts, any delay just costs money, so there should be some impetus to keep on trucking once the work actually gets underway. Also, the billions already being spent on the Dulles Airport expansion assume that Metro service will be in place there, so another reason to assume that it's on its way.

Interesting from a different perspective is that the Silver Line will share the same tracks as the Orange Line from just east of West Falls Church into Rosslyn and then the same tracks as both the Orange and Blue Lines over to Stadium-Armory. Metro is having trouble pushing enough rush-hour trains through that latter section already. There will be big pressure to move the Orange Line coming out of Rosslyn to pick up Georgetown, then run east across M Street. Maybe to Gallaudet, then Florida Avenue to 16th Steet and back down to Stadium-Armory. Building that would cost as much as the Dulles extension, I'd guess, but I don't see how they can hope to push three heavily travelled routes through downtown on the same tracks when they're already having trouble doing it with just two...