U r b a n T r e k k e r

How do I get to Tysons During HOT Lanes & Dulles Metrorail Constructions?

Do you know that the projects meet at Tysons? Yup. Of all places, Tysons Corner is the place, where the two Virginia mega projects meet.

Coming up this summer! Here's the rundown of constructions around Tysons, via Virginia Mega Projects news.

Construction of the new I-495 South (Outer Loop) bridge over Route 123 continues in Tysons Corner. When the bridge is completed this summer, traffic on I-495 South will shift to the bridge, and the original bridge over Route 123 will be demolished. After demolition, pier construction begins on the future Dulles Corridor metrorail tracks over I-495. During construction the left lanes of Route 123 under I-495 will be closed in late spring for 18-24 months.

What kind of travel management options available for employers and commuters? There's a wide range of options available from commuter solutions, carpool incentives, NOW Mega benefits program, telework!va 50k.

So, here's your getting there options.

COMMUTER OPTIONS

• Tysons Connector Bus
• Tysons Express from Woodbridge to Tysons
• Coming soon: Tysons Express from Loudoun
• Metro/Fairfax Connector Services
• Vanpool and carpool incentives
• Guaranteed Ride Home Program
• Carpool and Vanpool matching

This is a plus if you commute from Loudoun. Loudoun Tysons Express, a June 21 start-up date, funded by Dulles metrorail project and Virginia Megaprojects as an effort to keep commuters moving during construction. It'll save commuters money on tolls and gas. The price: $3 per trip with SmarTrip card and $3.5 per trip with cash. The Loudoun Express have 55 comfy seats and free wi-fi. Take note of that. So you can keep your productivity running.

  

image: Loudoun Express with free wifi bus

image: Planned stops at Tysons for Loudoun Express

CARPOOL INCENTIVES

Program rollout in summer 2010. You can earn rewards with carpool, points, etc. like your frequent flyers thing. Through Commuter Connections, each person that signs up, gets a free McDonald's "Angus Third Pounder" and a $10 coupon from GrubHub that you can use towards ordering food from more than 400 restaurants in Washington metro area. Not bad. 

Van Assistance program

This is part of employer solutions program. Because it's challenging to start a new vanpool with 100% of the seats filled, the Virginia Megaprojects VanStart Assistance program will help to get start a new vanpool on the road while working on rounding up people to sign up for the services. They're kicking in financial incentives to cover vacant seats for the first two months. Program only available while funds last.

EMPLOYER SOLUTIONS

For employers, they do offer bottom line incentives. It's all about bottom line! In the form of telework!va, transit and vanpool incentives.

• 50% for matching for new or increase, employer offer benefits combination of vanpool, transit, bike to work. The way I understand it, if employer offers SmarTrip allowance up to $230 per mo. per employee. (I might be wrong on this. My writing is so bad. So don't quote me).
• employer, employee tax free benefits.
• teleworkva benefits if your office located in Tysons Corner up to $50,000 just by starting or expanding company wide telework program. Up to $35,000 for companies with 20-99 employees,
• there is also some tech assistance available.

If you are an employer, you might want to contact them directly, because they can help you customize your program company-wide.

Oh, if all else fails.. there's always slugging, the instant carpooling.

RESOURCES you can check into for more details:

- Tysons Connector

- Tysons Express (from Woodbridge to Tysons)

- Guaranteed Ride Home

- Commuter Connections

- VA Mega Project Employer Solutions

- Telework!Va 50k

- Virginia 511 - for checking road conditions, trip planning and more

- Loudoun County Tysons Bus Express

Lastly, the mother site for all information related to Virginia megaprojects construction, http://www.vamegaprojects.com/

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Related posts, TAGS:  transportation, around Tysons development.

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Keep Tysons Moving during Virginia Mega Projects - HOT Lanes, Dulles Rail Constructions

  

image: some of the brochures I picked up from the booths

This morning I went to the 'Keep Tysons Moving' business briefing. Briefing is about the two mega projects they're working on around Tysons Corner and the kind of transportation options available for employees. VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportations) have two mega projects in the works around Tysons: Capital Beltway HOT Lanes and Dulles Corridor Metrorail. Without the two projects alone, traffic would be so jammed up during rush hours - that is morning, lunch, and afternoon - of people trying to get to and out of Tysons. 

Briefing is divided into four part:

1. Dulles Metrorail
2. Capital Beltway HOT Lanes project
3. Commuter and Employer solutions
4. Regional Transportation management plan - the big picture

Tim Steinhilber, the general manager of Capital Beltway HOT Lanes Project with Transurban said "that the transportation projects are 2010 most active constructions." We have the largest employment center in Virginia and economic engine of the state, that's why it's important for employers to empower employees to commute. Besides talking about the construction timeline, commute is the other thing that they want to get the message out. 

Dulles Corridor Metrorail

Marcia McAllister, Dir. of Communications with Dulles Corridor Metrorail project, gives an update on project. She said that Dulles metrorail is integration of 106 miles of metrorail. With 11 stops planned in which 5 metro stops slated for phase I and 6 in phase II. Phase I from East Falls Church to Wiehle will open in 2013 and phase II from Wiehle to Route 772/ Ryan Road in Loudoun county via Dulles Airport open in 2017. The big part: All five phase I work will be under constructions by end of 2010. What that means, employers would need to roll out alternative transportation options - be up and running for their employees - ASAP. There's no way to put around it. Think about it for a moment, these are Virginia two biggest projects ever! Can you imagine, what traffic going to be like, if we have traffic-as-usual pattern?

Highlights:

• Tysons east station construction has already started
• Construction for Tysons Central station will start in June 2010
• Construction for Tysons West station will start in late summer 2010
• There will be 3 different trusses. Large truss will be assembled at the Dulles Connector Road bridge over Old Chain Bridge road that will be used to build elevated tracks. The total weight of the structure is 366 tons, according to Marsha that is equal to 11 elephants. The first truss segment assembly scheduled for May 9.
• Working on Route 7 retaining walls for Tysons Central Route 7 station construction

 



 

Capital Beltway HOT Lanes

Larry Cloyed, the project manager, gives us the scoop. Once construction is said and done. There will be carpool HOV-3 lanes on the beltway from Springfield interchange to north of Dulles Toll road (via Tysons Corner), congestion free network for buses, pedestrian and bike paths on the side. The work they do right now is replacing $260 million of aging infrastructure in addition to build four new lanes (2 in each direction), construction carpool ramps connecting I-95 with the beltway for seamless network.

There is a plan for southbound bridge, taking down the bridge in one weekend by shutting down Route 123 from Friday to Monday morning in the Fall of 2010. He said that by taking down the bridge, it saved you about six weeks of dealing with demolition. He says that they'll do some creative work around it. 

 
 View larger image of Virginia HOT lanes spring construction 2010 here.

There you have it on projects. In the word of Larry Cloyed 'enjoy mobility while you have it..'

We'll continue with employers, employees solutions that include commuter solutions, carpool incentives, NOW Mega Benefits program along with resources - and more..  tomorrow. 

So check back tomorrow.

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On a side note, I bumped into Dr. Gridlock from Washington Post. I think he's going to have a write up about this briefing, too. So check out his column over at Washington Post. 

images credit: Dulles corridor metrorail, Virginia mega projects

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Loudoun County Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy

I had the opportunity to talk to Andrea McGimsey, Supervisor for Potomac District in Loudoun County about the county energy strategy to reduce its energy consumption to remain competitive economically, over the weekend at a Sierra Club workshop.

   

County is laying the groundwork for its economic future with the overall economic development goals "to always have reliable and affordable energy, be energy efficient, and have reduced greenhouse gases."

• By 2040, the local employment is expected to grow to 305,000 jobs from 140,000 jobs in 2007. 
• Population is expected to grow to 458,000 from 270,000 over time that will require adding 75,000 new homes to the current 100,000 and adding 73 million s.f. on non-residential buildings to the existing 69 million s.f. 
• Most development will be to the east in the county, and will be clustered around metro stations (yes, they will have metro stations) schedule to open in 2016.

Read the full report here and here.

Northern Virginia 2020 Transportation Plan

IF you're buying sometime in the FY 2010 to 2020, learning the details on transportation planning slated for Northern Virginia, probably won't hurt. Just to make sure that the property you're buying is not going to ended up in some sort of eminent domain.

According to the 2020 transportation plan map, here are the eight major corridors:

1. Dulles/VA-7 corridor
2. Tri-County/ Loudoun County Parkway & VA 234/VA 659 corridor
3. VA 28 corridor
4. Prince William County Parkway (VA-3000) corridor
5. Fairfax County Parkway (VA 7100) corridor
6. I-66/US-29/US-50 corridor
7. I-495 beltway corridor
8. I-95/-395/ US 1 corridor

In addition to these corridors there are selected improvements and other improvements that include outside the corridors above. Mostly the plan involved some sorts of roads/ highways infrastructure - bypass, interchanges- whether new or widening existing roads. I'm not a big fan of more roads, I think other transportation mechanism is preferable, like light rail, small feeder buses that can connect some neighborhoods to the nearest metro stations, bike trails, pedestrian trails - anything that will help reduce road congestion. And get more people to use the mass transit.

NOVA 2020 Trans Plan Map

Highlights:

• For VA 28 corridor (Fairfax, Manassas), there's a transit plan slated for light rail from Manassas to Dulles Airport with a capital cost of $790 million. More likely for 2020 FY.

• FY 2010 selected improvements metrorail extension from Dulles corridor to VA 772 in Loudoun and metrorail extension from Vienna to Centreville. (the Centreville plan I haven't heard about it).

• 2020 improvements include metrorail from Dunn Loring to Tysons Corner to Maryland.

• Light rail in US 1 corridor from Alexandria to the Pentagon.

• 2010 FY and 2020 bicycle and pedestrian improvements.

2010 major improvements include Columbia Pike to Pentagon Trail, Springfield to Tysons Corner Bikeway

2020 major improvements include Light rail VA 7 -Tysons Corner to Baileys Crossroads; Columbia Pike corridor -Baileys Crossroads to Pentagon, VA-7 (4 to 6 lanes) Seven Corners to Baileys Crossroads.

Read the 2020 NOVA transportation report here.

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Correction: Headline should read not "Virginia" but Northern Virginia.

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Fairfax supervisors clash over bike plans

"I don't believe a bicycle is a transportation device," Supervisor John Cook, R-Braddock District, said during a transportation committee meeting. "I think it's a recreation device. The big problem is people don't want to ride their bike in the rain or get sweaty before work."

Transportation officials have identified $12.7 million in pedestrian and bicycle projects for the Reston area -- intended to improve accessibility to the planned Wiehle Avenue and Reston Parkway Metro stations, part of the transit extension to Washington Dulles International Airport.

via washingtonexaminer.com

Guess, Supervisor Cook doesn't know that some people do take bike-to-work.

Posted via web from urbantrekker's streaming

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2 Year Lane Closing Rt. 123 Southbound (2010-2013)

Crossposted at In Tysons Space

Woops! Part of the construction pain. The 2-year lane crossing will start next week on Feb 22. The closing is for the construction of Tysons East Metrorail station, which is throw's stone from Capital One HQ. 

So does it mean that Capital One employees telecommute? Just asking..

Read details here..



Mixed-Use Plan for Herndon

   

Revitalizing Herndon's main street? This is the plan for remaking Herndon of Tomorrow. The idea is to cluster retail businesses on the main roads, while bringing more into downtown.

image: higher density proposal for Elden St. via Connection

Free Tysons Connector Lunchtime Shuttle

Image via Wikipedia

Free shuttle buses start next Monday, November 23. It runs every 10 mins between 10am to 2:30pm. The kick-off event is 11:00am this coming Monday at Tysons Corner Center's main stop near Nordstrom entrance. They're giving away restaurants' gift certificates (they said while supplies last) to bus riders.

Check out map, here.

Tysons-Dulles Corridor Real Hot Topics

Image via Wikipedia

I attended an event this morning hosted by Bisnow on 'Hot Topics in NoVa.' The hot topics surround commercial real estate development around Tysons-Dulles corridor and transportation.  Congressman Gerry Connolly (VA-11) and Til Hazel (attorney-developer) were the keynote speakers. Before Connolly becomes Congressman, he was the Chairman for Fairfax Board of Supervisors. Listening to his talk, now I understand why Tysons Corner is clogged during the day specially during rush hours. The burb is a classic example of suburban city that is auto-dependent.

Imagine this. There are 150K jobs in Tysons. The area covers 1,700 acres with only about 17, 000 people live there. And 150,000 people commute into and out of Tysons at exactly the same time via Route 7 and 123. D'oh. That explains why we need to create another mode of transportation. Furthermore, eighty-percent of the storm water is untreated. Connolly says, there are some 46M of stuff in underground Tysons.

The next generation of Tysons will have to have the density right. Higher density, that is, than originally zoned for. He also mentioned that Vienna and McLean benefit with the transformation going on in Tysons.

Dulles is the largest corridor of employment in the Commonwealth. Thus, making Tysons a very important corridor. He reminds the audience, that the first reference to Dulles metrorail was in 1962. 47 years later we could see it coming. What's interesting is the way the transportation dollars is distributed. It's complicated and have uneven playing field between roads and transit. For transit the state will have to apply directly to the Feds. Though, Dulles metrorail matching funding formula is 80/20, at the end of the day, when this project finally completed in 5 years, the real dollar from the Feds translates to only 16% of the total cost.

Hear this: Washington DC is the only OECD country without direct transit connection to a 'major' airport. 

The discussion for density in Fairfax and Northern Virginia will be the moment of truth, specifically for Tysons Corner area. If we look at the example, Arlington, even though it has 4x the density, it has no impact on its roads. 

So land zoning is an important part of the future.

The idea of transforming Tysons to a new level urban, mixing it with suburban mindset, where more density means more cars scares a lot of people. You don't buy an apartment next to a metro station without paying the premium. There's a reason for that. Overcoming fears and resistance to change will be a big challenge for the task force.

Springfield is next. (I think this is what Connolly means, Springfield will be the next big project here).

Til Hazel really speaks his mind. ( I would add here his tone is less upbeat than Connolly). He said twice that "Virginia is financially broke!" We have education, transportation problems. Furthermore, he says that Virginia doesn't have transportation plan. And we have serious NIMBY (not in my back yard) problems.

The thing that he said rings true is, that many of the big employers here do not participate at all - in policies. They're non-participant. Business community is disengaged? Why? Because when things are bright, no one cares. He said that we need to find solutions to these issues: transportation and education. He's been in commercial real estate since cows outnumbered people. (He definitely has a lot of knowledge on these issues). So, get with it. Don't think someone else will solve the problems. Problems won't be solved until you take charge. That's so true.

Next, we move to a discussion around transportation, commercial real estate market for this area. Cathy Delcoco, EVP of CB Ellis gave a state of the market update. When comparing '06 vs. '09 commercial vacancy rate in '09, it was totaled 14.2% vs 8.2% in '06. She said we'll double that vacancies at the end of the year. Absorption rate in 2001 is net negative rate. People think just because we're in the nation's capital, we're not immune to this. We are. She said that we've seen negative absorption rate this year around 700k SF.

What's true in residential, like location is prime factor in real estate, is also true in commercial. Vacancy rate for outside the beltway is 16.7% vs 9% for inside the beltway.

The market drivers around here, is the Feds. The top 25 transactions either defense related or GSA deals.

Listening to the panelists, it seems that everyone agree about how commercial real estate is the next shoe to drop. Loans are coming due in 2010-2013, while values of building not equal to debts or have gone down.

A bit shift into residential, the price appreciation from '01-'05 of 14, 14, 20, 22 percent have been "completely" wiped out, we're now back to residential land value equal to 2001 prices.  One of the panelists said that while residential slowly coming out of the woods, commercial only beginning to see their part of tsunami. The first hit was residential. Then corporate, stock market, last is commercial. It will be a couple of years before market recover.

Other hot topic heard there: transportation. We need enormous sum of money in VA dedicated for transportation about $100B at the state level. The question is who's going to pay for it?

One of the panelists, I think it was Arthur Fuccilo, EVP Lerner Enterprise, said that 'tax increase is the only way to solve this problem, and no one wants to talk about it.'  I'm sure a lot of people in the room don't like to hear what he said..

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Full disclosure: I was there on behalf of EcoBuild.

Construction Update on Dulles Metro

Here's an important announcement from the folks over at Dulles metro: route 7 service roads for sure is to disappear this coming Fall.