Originally Posted by
DCA writer
As for the IAD Metro station itself, WMATA's single best amateur historian found
a set of renderings of it last year. I like it--I think I'll enjoy seeing Saarinen's architecture swoop into view from the elevated track.
(I came across that link in
Railroad.net's forum on Dulles Metro construction, where that guy posts a hundred or so new photos of Silver Line progress every month or so and you can pick up other tidbits about the state of the project.)
New here. Found this thread among the referring URLs for my
cambronj.blogspot.com pages.
I like to consider myself the single most authoritative individual on all things WMATA metrorail not employed by the transit agency posting in various forum on the internet.
My knowledge on metrorail goes beck to the early 1970s when I aided then Director of Community Services Cody Cody Phanstiehl at WMATA conducting walking tours of the construction. I have walked roughly 1/2 of the system during its construction. Road a bicycle through the Potomac river tunnels.
When the
Area Regional System plan was adopted in 1968 there were line on the map labeled future. One of those lines branched from the Orange line just west of where the Dulles Connector Road connects to VA I-66.
The present Silver line project materialized out of several rail transit proposals made back in the late 1990s. The line would have never received federal approval had the line not passed through Tysons Corner, (not enough boardings generated to justify the capital costs). The construction of Phase I was partly funded with federal money. The construction of Phase II will be paid for with local funding only. Most of the local funding is coming from Dulles Toll Road revenue and special commercial taxing district property tax revenue. MWAA contribution is a little over 4 percent of the $5.25 billion total cost.
The earlier plan had called for a subway station, but not right underneath the main terminal. It would have been underneath the parking lot, a little outside of the bus lanes. I'm fine with losing that.
To be precise the center line of the station would have been at the point where the 2 pedestrian tunnels interest with the tunnel to Garage 1 under the atrium in front main terminal. The metrorail station entrance would have been on the right as one faced north.
Plans, sections and elevations of the station in subway in front of the main terminal can be see at:
FEIS Volume V
Chapter 4 – Dulles Airport (3.29 MB PDF file)
Plans, sections and elevations for the elevated station on the south side of Garage 1 can be seen at:
Dulles - Public RFP documents > Shared Documents > 04 PE Drawings >
PE Drawings, Volume 7 Part 2 - Airport Segment - NGA (Feb. 2012) (32.9 MB PDF file).
The entrance to the elevated station will be on the left between the end of moving walkway and the elevators up to Garage 1 as one faces north.
John in the sand box of Maryland's eastern shore.