Silver Line Rail with Trail?

Someone wrote me to ask why there was no trail built with the Silver Line. Normally, I don't cover Fairfax but it's a good question. In the end, I'm not really sure, except that it doesn't seem like anyone every seriously proposed it; which is unfortunate but not as unfortunate as the failure to get one built with the Dulles Access/Toll Road. Oh but also, there is a plan to build one. 

First of all, there is no plan to build a trail in either the Dulles Access/Toll Road right of way or the Silver Line ROW in Fairfax (much of the way, these are the same thing, but not all of it). 

In Transaction 2040, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority's long term plan, they have several projects identified for the Dulles/VA 7 Corridor, but none of the trails projects are in the ROW. The one that best mimics such a trail is a trail along VA 7 from Leesburg to Alexandria. That won't get you to the airport, but it would serve the area north of the W&OD trail and pass right through the center of Tysons Corner. An imperfect trail already exists on the section of VA7 from Reston Parkway to Dranseville Road, with more to come by 2040 I presume. 

The other trail projects in the corridor are 

1. Construct a bike/pedestrian trail starting from the east side of the Van Buren Street/Worldgate Drive intersection, continuing west-east to the future Herndon-Monroe Rail station
2. Construct W&OD Trail Crossing improvements at Crestview Drive
3. Construct Van Buren Street Trail to Dulles Metrorail station (extension from Folly Lick Trail) [I don't think this is a trail to the station at the airport because there is no way you can build a trail from Folly Lick to the airport for $600,000. They must mean the Herndon Station.]
4. Construct the Sugarland Run Trail from existing terminus to pedestrian access pavilion of the future Herndon Metrorail station

So that's probably the best you can hope for without some change in planning. 

I'm not sure the Silver Line was really the best opportunity in Fairfax, instead I think that came in the early 1980's. At that time they were building I-66 (which opened in 1982), and making plans to build the Dulles Toll Road (which opened in 1984 and was widened in 1992) and to extend the Access Road to I-66 (which was completed in 1985). The only one of those projects to get a bike trail was I-66 which was built with the Custis Trail for part of the way. It's too bad that no one had the forethought to extend the Custis Trail to the Toll Road and then along it. I guess we should be happy they left space for the Silver Line.

So, they blew it. And they didn't build a trail with the Silver Line. And there are no plans to build one any time soon. Even the County Bike Plan doesn't have such a trail (west side, east side).

But, Loudon County is planning to build one (oh man, now I'm writing about Loudoun...). In their 2003 Bicycle Plan, they include a Dulles Rail Extension Trail that will run from the "Sully Rd metrorail station to the Rt. 772 metrorail station." Of course, there is no Sully Road metrorail station, but I'm assuming that's Innovation Station. Route 772 is the Ashburn Station at the end of the line. Loudoun County also includes a Dulles International Airport Ring Route in their 2003 Bicycle Plan. Together they will build a loop around the entire airport, connect the loop to the terminal and then link the loop to Ashburn and Herndon roughly along the Silver Line. Here's a terrible image of what that will look like.

Both of these items were listed in the Short Term Recommendations of VDOTs Intermodal Accessibility Measure Study for the Airport and the county's 2011 Comprehensive Plan, but I have no idea when they might start real planning for them.

But wait, there's still hope for more. Though the Dulles Toll/Access Road corridor is pretty constrained, with the area between the sound walls often filled with nothing but the roads and rails, there is still room for a trail. How do I know that? Because the Transaction 2040 plan includes a plan to widen the Dulles Access Road from 4 to 6 lanes from Dulles Airport to VA 123. So if they can find the room for that, then they can find the room for a trail. A trail stretching from the Ring Route to 123 could then connect to the sidepath planned for Great Falls Street/694. Together they would connect the Dulles Corridor Trail to the W&OD Trail at Reston and again in West Arlington. 

So there you go. There is no Silver Line Trail planned for Fairfax, and there is a nebulous plan for one in Loudoun, but there could also be one in Fairfax if people can advocate for it. 

Comments

[drumz]

As a part of widening route 50 near the airport they put in a pretty nice sidepath. Connecting that north towards the W&OD would be nice of course.

Same with 7 widening which now has a nice trail leading into Tyson's at least.

Figuring out good ways to connect those to both the W&OD and the myriad little trails dotting the area might have similar effects than a trail that just hugs along the highway.

And figuring out ways to build trails that don't come along with road widenings.

[Purple Eagle]

I know it’s not the same thing, but at least the W&OD serves that corridor pretty well. So not having a trail parallel to the Silver Line is not as big a loss as, for example, not building a trail along the entire route of the ICC, where there really is no good alternative.

[Bruce Wright]

A Major Regional Trail along the Dulles Toll Road corridor was added to the Countywide Trails Plan in 2001. Granted that was too late to have much of an impact given the toll road and access road were already built. However, when new developments are proposed for properties adjacent to the road, the owners are supposed to build the trail. What has happened is that the owners argue that without connecting segments it doesn't make sense for them to build the trail, and the trail requirement is waived. If the county stuck to the plan, short segments could be built over time and then extended/connected with county funds in the future.