Metro Planner: R-B Corridor Will Be an Economic ‘Fulcrum’

Northern Virginia:

“Arlington will play a pivotal role in the regional economy with the coming of the Silver Line, suggests Metro planning director Shyam Kannan. Speaking at GMU’s Va. Square campus last week, Kannan said that the Silver Line and development around Tysons Corner will make the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor the economic ‘fulcrum’ of the D.C. area. Development pressure — particularly demand for new apartments and condos — ‘only becomes more pronounced’ with the Silver Line, he said, thanks to our central location between the ‘downtowns’ of the District and Tysons Corner.

That should come as a welcome bit of prognostication for Arlington County, which has been fretting about economic competition with a newly Metro-accessible Tysons Corner. The Silver Line, however, will hasten the necessity to build a second Potomac River crossing between Rosslyn and the District. Already, service adjustments are putting a squeeze on the Blue Line through Rosslyn, reducing train frequency and increasing crowding. Metro envisions building a second Rosslyn Metro station, which will connect with a new Metro line through Georgetown via a second Potomac River tunnel. That will help alleviate the increasingly problematic ‘bottleneck’ between Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom. Kannan acknowledged that overcrowding and frequent equipment breakdowns are a problem, but said Metro is working to solve both.”

~ Writes the Arlington Now

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