Silver Line Dulles WMATA Metrorail progress/pictures

Today I was scouting real estate in Ashburn area and it made me wonder, what was the rationale for the placement - or even the need - for the station now called Loudoun Gateway? Looking at the surrounding area filled with warehouses or data centers, it does not seem that this station really was needed to serve a customer-filled catchment zone; instead, I imagine that nearly all of the customers will be closer to the Ashburn station or Innovation Center station. I know there is often a 'build it and they will come' argument made about stations, but that seems unlikely given the current configuration of the area. To me, it would have made more sense to create 2 stations in the Ashburn area, moving the current one a bit more east and then having a final one closer to route 659. Thoughts?

JDC wrote: ↑Sat Feb 27, 2021 8:13 am Today I was scouting real estate in Ashburn area and it made me wonder, what was the rationale for the placement - or even the need - for the station now called Loudoun Gateway? Looking at the surrounding area filled with warehouses or data centers, it does not seem that this station really was needed to serve a customer-filled catchment zone; instead, I imagine that nearly all of the customers will be closer to the Ashburn station or Innovation Center station. I know there is often a 'build it and they will come' argument made about stations, but that seems unlikely given the current configuration of the area. To me, it would have made more sense to create 2 stations in the Ashburn area, moving the current one a bit more east and then having a final one closer to route 659. Thoughts?

Can you walk from those warehouses (skip the data centers, don't need as many people there) to Ashburn?

I think the argument here is not "build it and they will come" but more "get people to work and back".

The placement of the station is to serve passengers west and north of Stirling and east of Ashburn. Passengers east of VA-28 would use Innovation Center, passengers west of VA-28 would use Loudoun Gateway.

Adam Tuss is reporting that WMAA expects to hand over phase 2 to WMATA 'around' Labor Day, kicking off the 90-day testing period. So, maybe 2021....or early 2022.

JDC
Adam Tuss is reporting that WMAA expects to hand over phase 2 to WMATA 'around' Labor Day, kicking off the 90-day testing period. So, maybe 2021....or early 2022.

Airports Authority Targets Labor Day Handoff of Silver Line Phase 2 Project to Metro
DCMP Press Release
03 05 2021 14:40

Okay, lets talk timing and bring in what's going on.

Labor Day 2021 is September 6th.

90 days from that is... 30, 31, 30... Dec 5th.

Previous estimates have COVID-19 Herd Immunity around late September. So Dec 5th... we're probably masks off. Folks are starting to travel again. Dulles gets busier and busier... and BAM! Silver Line right into the city opens up. WMATA gets the holiday traffic. Not as big as expected but it's bigger than current. And that's the best case scenario!

Watch it miss and land in court.

December would be awesome! We shall see. I bet someone a Phase II Silver Line fare it won't open til '22.

The following article indicates that due to outstanding and unresolved issues, Phase II is not likely to open until early 2022. https://wtop.com/tracking-metro-24-7/20 ... 2-opening/

A couple days ago I realized something I had not thought of before. I dug out the preliminary engineering drawings of the Dulles Airport station. I looked at the drawings and saw what I realized was true. The escalators that will carry passengers between the fare collection mezzanine and the platform are longer then escalators connecting the mezzanines in the Court House and Van Ness stations to the passageways to the surface entrance escalators. The number I came up with was 57' 8 1/4" vertical rise. The Van Ness escalators are 56' 6 1/8", the Court House escalators are 48' 6 1/4". Mind you the elevations in the preliminary engineering drawings may not be the same as what was actually built, but they are likely pretty close.

How about Rosylnn? That has to rank up there as well.

STrRedWolf
How about Rosslyn? That has to rank up there as well.

Rosslyn ranks 5th below Medical Center, Woodley Zoo Park, Bethesda and Wheaton.

Van Ness and Court House were bumped down by Dulles Airport on the list I created more then 25 years ago.

Inventory of stations with escalators over 45' 13.71m vertical rise. All Stations in bedrock except Court House, Pentagon and Dulles Airport.

†Entrance opened in 1977 with 2, upgraded to 3 in 2012.

††Elevated station.

**Station in cut and cover, escalators no longer in service.

***Deepest station in cut and cover.

Another Silver line phase II opening date tease:

DCMP 05 17 2021 Newsletter

Fingers crossed as I'll soon be a resident of those parts with the need to commute downtown on a regular (although not daily) basis.

JDC wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 7:34 am Fingers crossed as I'll soon be a resident of those parts with the need to commute downtown on a regular (although not daily) basis.

Nice! I wouldn’t rely on the Silver Line Phase II opening on time for the umpteenth delayed opening though just FYI.

Rode Metro today for the first time since late winter and this time happened to switch trains in Rosslyn, where I noticed that the wall signs had been updated to say "Ashburn" as Silver line destination.