Dulles Corridor Transit Improvements Make It Rail Ready

Over the last 2 1/2 years, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority have undertaken an environmental review of transit alternatives to serve the Dulles Corridor. On December 19, 2002, the Commonwealth Transportation Board endorsed the rail alternative along with the addition of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) elements to enhance bus service while rail is being constructed.

To build transit ridership, Fairfax and Loudoun counties have made significant improvements to their express bus systems. The result has been that the Dulles Corridor has a very successful BRT system today. A number of additional enhancements characteristic of a BRT system are planned including real-time information on bus arrivals, transit center amenities, and capacity increases.

The Dulles corridor express buses have today the time advantage of a BRT system. They use high occupancy vehicle lanes on the Dulles Toll Road and the limited access Dulles Airport Access Road to speed them to the West Falls Church Metrorail station, Arlington, and the District of Columbia.

Five major parking facilities with 4,100 spaces have been built to serve transit riders using the express bus system. A special lane was completed on the Dulles Connector Road, which allows buses to bypass congestion on adjacent lanes to reach the station. Feeder bus systems provide access to express buses at the Tysons Corner, Reston, and Herndon transit centers.
In Fairfax County, ridership has grown from 4,800 trips per day to more than 14,000 today. Loudoun County has seen its ridership increase to 1,200 trips per day and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority 5A-route carries an additional 400 trips daily for a total of nearly 16,000 trips each day.

Fairfax County has four parking facilities in the corridor with nearly 3,400 parking spaces. The Herndon-Monroe Park-and-Ride garage has 1,778 spaces and use has grown since its opening in 1998 to 82 percent of capacity. Loudoun County opened a 750-space Park-and-Ride facility last year at the future Dulles Greenway Route 606 rail transit station site.
By late summer, automated slip ramps will be completed that will enable express buses to use the Access Road throughout the day. Fairfax County is rebuilding the transit transfer facility at West Falls Church to enlarge its capacity and improve its safety. When completed this fall, buses serving Reston and Herndon will be located on the north side of the northern bus transfer area. The facility is designed to permit riders to use SmarTrip farecards, enabling them to board buses quickly without having to pay an additional fare. The cost of the bus trip will be discounted to encourage use of the electronic farecard. This prepayment element is a key feature of a number of BRT systems.

The redesigned facility will also permit staff to match the number of buses to the passenger load delivered by rail during peak periods and can accommodate articulated buses. Drivers will also be able to see trains pulling into the station, enabling them to wait for arriving rail passengers, a key element of the timed transfer concept.
Fairfax County is also designing a transit station with nine bus bays at the Reston Town Center on Bluemont Drive. A protective canopy is being constructed at the Herndon-Monroe Park-and-Ride and its transit store hours will be extended to be open throughout the day.

Loudoun County currently has 15 buses in operation under contract with Yellow Transportation. Two more buses will be added in September. To accommodate growing demand and reduce costs, Loudoun is purchasing 20 new diesel commuter buses that are scheduled to begin operation by July 2004.

Both counties are purchasing buses that can handle the SmarTrip fare media. Fairfax County is undertaking an intelligent transportation system study that is looking at providing real-time information on next bus arrivals and implementing an automatic vehicle locator system. Buses will be equipped with a new radio communications system.

During peak hours, Fairfax Connector buses depart every 6 to 7.5 minutes and during the off-peak, every 15 to 30 minutes. Planning is underway to increase mid-day bus service on several routes to every 15 minutes.

In summary, transit riders in the corridor benefit from a high quality express bus system that is being enhanced with BRT elements. Growing transit ridership indicates that these investments are paying off and that the Dulles corridor is rail-ready. The counties' strategies to build transit ridership ensure that the trains will be well used when the first segment of the rail system opens.

Journey to Work Census Data and Observations about the Benefit of 
Rail Extension to Serve Activity Centers in the Dulles Corridor

The initial findings of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) on the 2000 Census Journey to Work Survey reveal important trends in the Dulles corridor that support the investment in rail transit to serve the multiple, major activity centers along the corridor.

The loss of 60,000 jobs between 1990 and 2000, in the core jurisdictions of the District of Columbia, Arlington County, and the City of Alexandria and the fact that there were fewer workers living in the District and Prince George's County appear related to the down-sizing of the federal and District governments during the decade.
During the same period, the Maryland suburbs gained 60,000 workers and Northern Virginia 170,000. Slightly more than 80 percent of the Virginia growth occurred in Fairfax (+ 98,000) and Loudoun (+39,000), and most of this growth occurred in the Dulles corridor.

Transit use has grown significantly in the Dulles corridor area of Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. Fairfax operates an express bus system whose ridership has increased 250 percent since 1998 with the addition of the Herndon-Monroe parking garage to more than 14,000 daily boardings. Loudoun County ridership nearly doubled between 1997 and 2002 to 203,000 annual boardings as a result of increasing service and the opening of a commuter lot at Route 606. The Dulles corridor is the only major employment corridor not yet served by Metrorail. Rail service has been projected to generate more than 100,000 riders per day when changes to the Fairfax Comprehensive Plan for rail stations in the corridor were analyzed. If rail is supported by compact, mixed-use development, non-commute auto trips, which are 75 percent of total trips could be reduced significantly.
The 2002 COG report, "Metropolitan Washington Regional Activity Centers", indicates that 70 percent of the region's employment is concentrated in activity centers and clusters while only 30 percent of the region's households are. This reflects current development patterns. Local governments are urged to use this information "to encourage land use and transportation policies that promote more concentrated regional growth patterns and trends." That is what is being done in the Dulles corridor.

Tysons Corner has the second largest concentration of jobs outside of the District of Columbia with 101,500 in 2000 and a projected total of 139,300 in 2025. The five activity centers in the Dulles corridor cluster: Reston East, Reston West, Herndon, Dulles Corridor, and Washington Dulles International Airport had 81,400 jobs in 2000 and are projected to have 140,000 in 2025. Each cluster has more jobs today than the Rosslyn/Ballston corridor, which is served by five Metrorail stations. The nearby Dulles North and South clusters in Loudoun and Fairfax counties along Route 28 had 67,400 jobs in 2000 and are projected to have 162,000 by 2025.

The job growth in the Dulles corridor has occurred and will continue to occur in major activity centers that will be conveniently linked by the Dulles rail extension. Recent changes to the long-range plans of Fairfax and Loudoun counties focus employment and encourage housing units around the rail stations located in these centers. The mix of uses will balance directional ridership on the rail system throughout the day and into the evening, enhancing transit ridership and system revenues.

In response to a 1996 plan amendment for Tysons Corner that encourages commercial and residential growth around transit stations, several mixed-use projects have been proposed. Fairfax County recently approved a change of zoning from commercial to high-density residential to help achieve the goal of a lively downtown center for Fairfax. Loudoun County recently approved a town center-type development at the Route 772 rail station, which will ultimately have up to 10 million square feet of commercial space and 6,000 housing units and is considering two other station area mixed-use projects.
These local jurisdictions recognize the tremendous opportunity rail brings to create attractive, walkable, mixed-use communities. They are also using the extension of rail to create a more prosperous and stable tax base. The high quality development associated with rail stations will bring significant tax revenue increases to local and state governments as increased real estate, sales, business and income taxes. Perhaps most beneficial of all is the relief that growing commercial assessments will provide to residential property owners who currently shoulder an increasing share of the local property tax in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties.

While many in the suburbs may have to rely on automobiles to get to work, the extension of rail will open up the job-rich Dulles corridor to employees throughout the region. It will also give the fortunate residents who will live near the rail stations, the opportunity to take transit to work. When Arlington County was awarded the Environmental Protection Administration's first Smart Growth award this past year, one key result of its planning efforts was that 50 percent of the residents in the Rosslyn/Ballston corridor take transit to work. And if anything, recent demographic trends, which show an increasingly diverse and aging population, will begin to have a more significant impact on broadening the types of housing jurisdictions provide and enhancing the attractiveness of locations near rail transit.

The Dulles rail extension was included in plans prepared for Washington Dulles International Airport more than 40 years ago. It has been supported in numerous studies over the past decade and by sound public policy decisions made by responsible local officials. The ability to choose rail will improve the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities. Finally, rail proved its ability to move large numbers of people safely and efficiently during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This key rail extension should be implemented as a major element enhancing regional transportation capacity and regional and national security.

Dulles Corridor Rail Association Partners and Founders

JUNE 2003