Bridges for Subway Nearing Completion Along Route 123 from McLean to Tysons Corner

Construction of the aerial bridges for the future Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project tracks along the northwest side of Route 123 in Tysons Corner continues at a rapid pace, using a large, yellow horizontal crane, according to the monthly construction update of the Silver Line through McLean and Tysons Corner from the Dulles Corridor Metrorail project.
 
That crane continues to construct the guideway (bridges) near the future Tysons East Station, at Scotts Crossing Road, and is working over the main entrance to the Capital One campus. This work requires overnight closures of Capital One Drive, between 9:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. and causes those who need access to Capital One in the overnight hours to use Scotts Crossing Road.
 
When those spans are complete, the truss will continue to progress westward, from pier to pier, toward Interstate 495, the Capital Beltway. When the truss completes those segments, it will be disassembled, likely near the end of 2011. That process will takes about four to six weeks.
 
It will then be moved and reassembled in the median of the Dulles International Airport Access Highway/Dulles Toll Road near the Route 7 interchange where it will be used to build the flyover from the Airport/Toll Road median to Route 7 and bridges into the Tysons West Metrorail Station at Spring Hill Road.

Background:

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is constructing a 23-mile extension of the existing Metrorail system, which will be operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority from East Falls Church to Washington Dulles International Airport west to Ashburn.
The extension will serve Tysons Corner, Virginia's largest employment center, and the Reston Herndon area, the state's second largest employment concentration. It will provide a one-seat ride from Dulles International Airport to downtown Washington.

Phase 1 and 2

The project will include 11 new stations. It will be built in two phases. Phase 1 will run from East Falls Church to Wiehle Avenue on the eastern edge of Reston. It will include four stations in Tysons Corner-Tysons east, Tysons Central 123, Tysons Central 7 and Tysons West. Construction will begin in March of 2009 and it will be completed in 2013.
Phase 2 will run from Wiehle Avenue to Ashburn in eastern Loudoun County. A construction date has not been set for the extension that will serve Reston Town Center, Herndon, Dulles Airport, Route 606 and Ashburn.
The purpose of Dulles Metrorail is to provide high-quality, high-capacity transit service in the Dulles Corridor. New Metrorail service in the corridor will result in travel time savings between the corridor and downtown D.C., expand the reach of the existing regional rail system, offer a viable alternative to automobile travel and support future transit-oriented development along the corridor.

Cost: Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and Dulles Transit Partners in March 2008 signed an updated $1.6 billion fixed-price contract to build the project, keeping the costs of the project to $2.6 billion.