Dulles Connector construction update

For weeks, a giant yellow and blue truss has been in place along the Dulles Connector Road (Route 267) near Route 123 where the trains will move from the Connector Road to the northwest side of Route 123. That truss weighs about 366 tons and is now being used to lift huge concrete segments into place to make the spans between piers that will create the aerial bridges for support tracks across Tysons Corner. Those piers have been built along Route 123 and in the middle of the Dulles Connector Road.  

A different truss will be
put into place to build the spans across I-495 starting this fall, and a third
truss will be used for aerial spans to be built in the middle of Route 7 in
Tysons Corner

Trains on the Dulles
Corridor Metrorail extension will merge with Metro’s existing Orange Line just
east of the West Falls Church Metrorail Station and use the existing Metrorail
tracks to carry passengers all the way to the Stadium Armory Metro Station.
That means passengers boarding future trains in Tysons Corner, Reston,
Washington Dulles International Airport and Ashburn will not need to transfer
to get into downtown Washington.

For many months crews have
been building caissons and piers that will carry the tracks from the new line
to the existing Orange Line near I-66 and the Dulles Connector Road. Metro
service was disrupted for several weeks so additional piers could be built
adjacent to the existing tracks. Now the construction of the aerial guideway is
taking place in that area.

Construction is now beginning
on the Tysons Central 7 Metrorail Station along Route 7 just west of the Route
123 overpass. The station is being built in the median of Route 7 between SAIC
on the north side of the road and the Marshalls Shopping Center on the south.
The eastbound lanes of Route 7 from just east of Spring Hill Road to Koons was
shifted about 40 feet south in early June to make way for station construction.

In late summer, a similar
lane shift will take place on Route 7 between Spring Hill and Tyco Roads to
make room for construction of the Tysons West Metrorail Station, also in the
median of Route 7.

Construction is already
under way on the Tysons East Station on the northwest side of Route 123 at
Scotts Crossing Road/Colshire Drive and at the Tysons Central 123 Station, also
on the north side of Route 123, near Tysons Galleria and Tysons Corner Center.

Construction of the
platform for the Wiehle Avenue Station, the fifth station in Phase 1 of the
Dulles Rail Project, has started in the median of the Dulles International
Airport Access Highway, just west of the Wiehle Avenue overpass.

By fall, construction of
all five of the Phase 1 rail stations will be taking place.

Piers will soon be built in
the median of Route 7 and along the median of the Dulles International Airport
Access Highway and the Dulles Toll Road just west of Route 7, using the same processes
that are being used from I-66 and the Dulles Connector Road and along
Route 123.

During the past several
years, crews have relocated and undergrounded 21 different utilities along
Routes 7 and 123. Those relocations are 95 percent complete, and most of the
old brown utility poles that lined Route 7 are gone. In place below ground are
room-sized manholes and duct banks where utility operators have pulled and
spliced cable that support the demands of the businesses and residents of
Tysons Corner. When future expansions and repairs are needed, crews can do that
work inside the new manholes without digging up the new roadway.

Construction of the
outbound and inbound tunnels that will carry tracks to and from Routes 123 and
7 is on schedule. Miners using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) have
completed more than 1,000 feet of the outbound tunnel and more than 750 feet of
the inbound tunnel. Both tunnels are completed below International Drive, one
of the busiest thoroughfares in Tysons Corner.