Construction on Silver Line Phase 2 to ramp up

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
Silver Line
Concrete is placed on the deck of the Silver Line’s aerial guideway at Dulles International Airport to prepare the deck for track installation.
Capital Rail Constructors

Construction on Phase 2 of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, a.k.a. the Silver Line, is about to head into a busy period as the project hits the 30 percent complete mark.

 

“This is the biggest year so far for construction all along the Phase 2 alignment from Reston west to Ashburn,” said Charles Stark, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s (MWAA) executive director of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project. “The coming construction season is critical; there is a lot of work to be done.”

Capital Rail Constructors (CRC), a joint venture of Clark Construction and Kiewit Infrastructure South, is the design-build contractor for all civil work, station and support facilities construction, bridges and aerial guideway structures and train track and systems portions of Phase 2. Phase 2 will run from the eastern edge of Reston west to Washington Dulles International Airport and to Ashburn in eastern Loudoun County.

In a newsletter updating the progress of the project, MWAA said CRC crews have made progress in recent months on the construction of the aerial guideway that will carry the Silver Line above Dulles Airport.

The installation of 72-foot and 84-foot girders for the superstructure portion of the aerial guideway has progressed through the heavily-treed areas of the northeast end of Dulles Airport toward the Dulles Greenway. Deck work to prepare the guideway for future track installation is taking place.

Additionally, two large straddle bents, each requiring between 380 and 489 cubic yards of concrete, have been constructed over particularly wide areas where piers cannot be used to support the spans. A total of four large straddle bents will be needed at Dulles, and an additional four will be built over the eastbound Dulles Greenway at night.

MWAA says all six stations, Reston Town Center, Herndon, Innovation Center, Dulles Airport, Loudoun Gateway and Ashburn, are currently in some stage of construction.

Phase 1 of the Silver Line opened in late July 2014 and a specific date for the opening of Phase 2 has not been set.

Tags: