November 27, 2007 Editorial: Tysons Corner exodus is an early warning sign

Editorial: Tysons Corner exodus is an early warning sign
Nov 27, 2007 by The Washington DC Examiner Newspaper (article)

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - In an act of astonishing presumption, utility relocation has already begun on the Dulles Rail project, as The Examiner’s Bill Flook reported last week, even though the project has not yet gotten final approval from the Federal Transit Administration. The fact that the FTA is still scrutinizing the price tag of this misbegotten project doesn’t seem to faze the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is now managing it.

It should. Dulles Corridor Users Group president Chris Walker reminded FTA officials in a letter he sent them this week that the proposed Silver Line is “deficient in all respects to the San Jose [Bay Area Rapid Transit] proposal, which the FTA has already turned down” for federal funding.

There are also early warning signs that this too-expensive Metrorail project will do more harm than good in Northern Virginia, literally killing Virginia’s golden goose.

Instead of early birds flocking to Tysons Corner to take advantage of Dulles Rail’s many supposed benefits, businesses have actually begun bailing out. More corporate tenants have left Tysons than leased office space there this year. This unexpected exodus is most likely being driven by the anticipation of five years or more of major construction chaos and tolls of up to $5 per trip to pay for it. But there is another, more ominous explanation.

McLean Citizens Association Board member Mark Zetts says Tysons Corner will never become a successful transit-oriented development center like Arlington’s Rosslyn-Ballston corridor because Tysons is sealed off by already overcrowded interstates, while the R-B area has 40 access lanes — one every quarter of a mile — that facilitate the smooth flow of traffic.

Fairfax County still does not have a land use plan reflecting the unaddressed problem of poor access, which will be compounded — not alleviated — by a transit project that eats up valuable right of way on Route 7, the main arterial serving Tysons Corner. With no money left to upgrade key interchanges that connect the surrounding interstates to Tysons roads, the resulting traffic congestion will be much worse after Dulles Rail is built.

Local motorists and businesses are expected to pay $1 million per day for a transit project that will make their lives much more expensive and far less convenient.

Who wants to stick around for that?