Dulles Corridor Poised For Economic Growth With Silver Line Completion

RESTON, VA — All day Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, local officials gathered for ribbon-cutting ceremonies at stations along Metro's Silver Line, celebrating a 60-year dream of bringing a rail line out to Washington Dulles International Airport.

The day started off at the airport, with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg joining the celebration of Metro's six new Silver Line station: Reston Town Center, Herndon, Innovation Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Loudoun Gateway and Ashburn.

U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia) recalled on Tuesday the struggle 27 years ago to revive the dream of extending a rail line to Dulles Airport.

"It was a lonely place and a lonely time," he said. "There weren't many people who were enthusiastic about this. There are plenty of people who wanted to advise us, 'You can't. You shouldn't. We've tried it. Don't even think about it. There are better ideas.'"

While some might view the opening of the six stations as the "end" of a project, many of those speaking on Tuesday characterized it as a "beginning."

Connolly called the Dulles Corridor the most important economic corridor in the region and that the opening of Phase 2 of the Silver Line would make it event greater.

"We had within our grasp, only with the advent of the Silver Line, the ability to completely reinvent it, reimagine it, as mixed -use development, as transit-oriented development, as environmentally sound and friendly, as improving quality of life, reducing carbon emissions and restoring choices to the people that live in Northern Virginia," he said.

Related: Metro Silver Line Extension With 6 New Stations Opens With Fanfare

By providing connectivity to the region, the new stations would help the entire Dulles Corridor to build a new identity that didn't exist before, according to Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn.

"What it really shows is a corridor of emerging communities of commercial activity that rivals anywhere else in the region," Alcorn said. "We're really seeing the emergence of the Dulles Corridor as the other center of the D.C. metro region."

Reston area residents will now be served by two additional stations, the one at Reston Town Center and the other in nearby Herndon.

Herndon Mayor Sheila Olem attended the ribbon-cutting ceremonies for the Innovation Center and Herndon Metro stations, which will serve businesses and residents on both sides of the Dulles Toll Road.

"I moved to the area in 1990 under the delusion that Metro was opening in 2000," she said, eliciting laughs from the audience gathered under a tent near the Innovation Center station on Tuesday. "We moved here because of the access to Dulles Airport, as my husband traveled internationally quite a bit and his office was in D.C. So, all these many years later, here we go."

Just as a train station sparked the founding of the Town of Herndon, Olem said Metro was going to be transformational for the area.

"We've already started with redevelopment right in that corridor, where the Metro will land in the Town of Herndon, making us the only town in the commonwealth that has a Metro within our limits," she said. "We're really excited about that."

"We're thrilled that we've been able to achieve completion in the Silver Line, because it really is a tremendous transportation improvement, obviously," Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust said, on Tuesday. "But it also contributes so much to helping us achieve so many of our other goals in Fairfax County."

With more county residents using mass transit to access jobs and services along the Silver Line corridor, fewer cars will be on the roads, which will help reduce the region's carbon footprint, according to Foust.

Fifteen million square feet of mixed-use development and parking are already planned around the Innovation Center Station. In addition, the 52-acre Arrowbrook Centre will contribute 2.3 million square feet of mixed-used development

"The economic development opportunities that are happening around these stations are supporting the services and infrastructure that we're building in other parts of the county," said Fairfax County Board Chair Jeff McKay on Tuesday. "There is a huge countywide benefit of this, but sometimes that vision is hard for folks to identify."