Lots of reading in this thread.

Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project progress update e-mail 02 21 2017

DC to Dulles and Beyond: Metrorail on Track

Construction Continues All Along the Alignment

The coming weeks will be jammed with a host of construction work all along the second phase of the Silver Line from Reston to Ashburn. Here's a preview:

• At Dulles International Airport, girders for aerial guideway will be set. Deck work will continue at the airport and in the the rail yard just west of the airport itself. The last of eight straddle bents along the aerial guideway will be poured around the end of February and the concrete form is scheduled to be stripped in March. Directional drills for 34.5kV duct bank under some airport roads will be ongoing.
• Tracks: Plinth and direct fixation track, as well as special track (switch) work will be ongoing along the aerial guideway at the airport, and ballasted track work near Monroe/ Van Buren Street continues. Double crossover east of Horsepen Run bridge will be installed.
• On the far western end of the line, additional 35.4kV duct bank and storm drainage work in the median of the Dulles Greenway will continue. Jack and bore work for utilities under the Dulles Greenway is expected to be completed in late February/early March. Track wall construction west of Loudoun County Parkway begins late February/early March.
• Traction Power Substation #15 will be energized with permanent 34.5kV power from Dominion Virginia Power's Dulles Substation.

The crossbeams pictured above will support Metro's Dulles Airport Station when complete and connect with the terminal, pictured in the background, via a pedestrian tunnel with moving sidewalks.
Photo by John Kearney, Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project


DCMP crews continued setting girders (top) and building a straddle bent (bottom) needed to span the Dulles Greenway throughout January. Heaters and heat blankets allowed the concrete to cure properly despite frigid temperatures.
Photos by Jennifer Thomas Alcott, Capital Rail Constructors



Stations:

• Reston Town Center Station:
  Station steel erection will start in April. Pedestrian bridge drilled shaft work on the north side of the station will begin, to be followed by cap and column construction. North pavilion cast in place work will be completed. Interior station build-out.
• Herndon Station:
  At TPSS # 13, drill shafts for screenwall start in late March. At Herndon Station south pavilion site, precast erection begins in late March, followed by steel erection in April.
• Innovation Center Station:
  Pedestrian bridges on the south side of station will be set. Flat roofs will be completed and ceiling framing begins. Electrical switchgear will be set. Work on the vault standing seam roofing system will start along with work on the retaining wall at the north pavilion. Communications installations begin.
• Dulles Airport Station:
  Escalator installation and structural steel erection start. Re-routing of fiber line begins.
• Loudoun Gateway Station:
  Concrete foundation will be completed, and walls and column construction will continue. Precast erection is scheduled to start in April.
• Ashburn Station:
  Concrete finishes in March, and precast erection will be ongoing in March and April. Block walls inside the station known as Concrete Masonry Units will start in early April.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) speaks with Executive Director of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, Charles Stark, during a recent project tour.

Big Numbers!

Did you know that construction of the aerial guideway to support tracks at Washington Dullles International Airport and west to the Dulles Greenway:

• Is approximately 3.8 miles.
• Requires 6,217 tons of steel, all American made.
• Uses 50,539 cubic yards of concrete.

Looking Way Ahead

• Innovation Center Station - (North end):
  The pedestrian shafts and excavation sound wall at the north end of Innovation Station will be completed by June or July 2017. Embankment work has started and is awaiting additional fill material.Innovation Center Station - (South end):[/b]
  There are several developments happening at the south end of Innovation station. Embankment work near the pavilion has started and is ongoing with precast work to start next month.
  The pedestrian bridges will be erected in the following order: (8, 5, 6 and 7). Work on the pedestrian bridge along Sunrise Valley Drive (7 and 6) will begin in a couple of weeks. A 20- minute road flagging or lane closure detour may be issued when determined.
• Sunrise Valley Drive:
  Frontage work has been completed that includes a completed tree clearing and ongoing utility locating. Capital Rail Constructors (CRC) is still working on plating a portion of the Dulles Access Road.
• Herndon Station - Garage Work along Sunrise Valley Drive:
  Contractor Manhattan will close the east access of garage (Nov. - Feb. 2017) after western access is made available by CRC. They will start at the end of the month with interior garage work to facilitate the north access road. The existing northwest in-only access is anticipated to be closed from March to May to allow for the temporary reconfiguration of the entrance. Installation of telecomm and electrical conduit will take place in mid-March. CRC's coordination of the pedestrian bridge installation will continue to be monitored and may impact bus lanes and cause nighttime lane closures.

Electrical duct bank stub at the site of Ashburn Station in the median of the Dulles Greenway will contain and protect the power lines that will provide electricity to the station.
Photo by Richard Lynch, Capital Rail Constructors


Once opened, Metro passengers will be able to ride the Silver Line to Dulles International Airport, providing a high-capacity rail connection between the airport and Washington, D.C.
Photo by John Kearney, Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project

###

You missed the pics of the station next to where the Arthur Treacher's is going to be built right there in Tyson's!

Come on down to get some fish and chips!!! And some of that awesome pudding dessert, too! F yeah!

It still would have made sense to have built an express route for the Silver Line.

Joke Insurance Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It still would have made sense to have built an
> express route for the Silver Line.

Can you elaborate on what you mean? Just curious...

Joke Insurance wrote:
It still would have made sense to have built an express route for the Silver Line.

It would have made no sense to have built an express route. The reason why is because 85% of the boardings will be generated by the other ten station.

The way to shorten the trip time is run 8 car trains at closer headway to allow the reduction of station dwell time. Run trains at their maximum designed speed of 75 MPH, The segment in the median of the Connector Road is built for speeds greater then 75 MPH, the segments between the stations in the median of the Dulles Access Road are also built for speeds greater then 75 MPH.

The only way to improve these times is to provide all Metro employees free access to all the fish and chips they can eat. Arthur Treacher's is sponsoring this effort.

Sand Box John Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Joke Insurance wrote:
> It still would have made sense to have built an
> express route for the Silver Line.
>
> It would have made no sense to have built an
> express route. The reason why is because 85% of
> the boardings will be generated by the other ten
> station.
>
> The way to shorten the trip time is run 8 car
> trains at closer headway to allow the reduction of
> station dwell time. Run trains at their maximum
> designed speed of 75 MPH, The segment in the
> median of the Connector Road is built for speeds
> greater then 75 MPH, the segments between the
> stations in the median of the Dulles Access Road
> are also built for speeds greater then 75 MPH.

So there no reason to hope for a bypass around Tysons or an alt route along Glebe Road?

Joke Insurance Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So there no reason to hope for a bypass around
> Tysons or an alt route along Glebe Road?

Dunno about Glebe, but if you check the record you'll find that Metro to Dulles had been studied repeatedly, and kept failing justification--until they studied routing it through Tyson's. Then it suddenly made sense. Of course you can argue with the methodology and results, but given that the studies are canon at this point, I think "no reason to hope" is probably accurate, at least for the foreseeable future.

Greybeard Wrote:

Dunno about Glebe, but if you check the record you'll find that Metro to Dulles had been studied repeatedly, and kept failing justification--until they studied routing it through Tyson's. Then it suddenly made sense. Of course you can argue with the methodology and results, but given that the studies are canon at this point, I think "no reason to hope" is probably accurate, at least for the foreseeable future.

I have been following the build out of Metrorail almost back to the origenal ground breaking in 1969. The Dulles route was shown as future on the 1968 Adopted Regional System map and ran in the median of the Dulles Connector and Access roads.

The first official proposal to build a Metrorail route to Dulles was made in January of 1999. It was to be the first phase of a multi phase project. The proposal diverted the routing shown as future on the 1968 Adopted Regional System map through Tysons Corner. The alignment proposed used T2 Tysons Aerial Loop and had a Bus Rapid Transit transfer station and parking garage in the median of the Dulles Access Road west of Leesburg Pike.

What ended up being built evolved from that. The direct route (T8 Alternative Feeder System) was not brought forward from the Draft Environmental Impact Statement study.

Sand Box John Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Greybeard Wrote:
>
> Dunno about Glebe, but if you check the record
> you'll find that Metro to Dulles had been studied
> repeatedly, and kept failing justification--until
> they studied routing it through Tyson's. Then it
> suddenly made sense. Of course you can argue with
> the methodology and results, but given that the
> studies are canon at this point, I think "no
> reason to hope" is probably accurate, at least for
> the foreseeable future.
>
> I have been following the build out of Metrorail
> almost back to the origenal ground breaking in
> 1969. The Dulles route was shown as future
> on the
> [
> color=darkblue]1968 Adopted Regional System
> map[/color] and ran in the median of the
> Dulles Connector and Access roads.
>
> The first official proposal to build a Metrorail
> route to Dulles was made in January of 1999. It
> was to be the first phase of a multi phase
> project. The proposal diverted the routing shown
> as future on the 1968 Adopted Regional System map
> through Tysons Corner. The alignment proposed used
> [url=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YF7nRLewm7E
> ZOqHPEHHGklpy45e-hglXjZk6wl8PMtfsR1K1jWJdt5Oc6A-wZ
> s6JTIRU8B8EJNLZDQ=w1871-h1211][color=darkblue][b]T
> 2 Tysons Aerial Loop[/b][/color][/url] and had a
> Bus Rapid Transit transfer station and parking
> garage in the median of the Dulles Access Road
> west of Leesburg Pike.
>
> What ended up being built evolved from that. The
> direct route
> [url=https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YF7nRLewm7E
> ZOqHPEHHGklpy45e-hglXjZk6wl8PMtfsR1K1jWJdt5Oc6A-wZ
> s6JTIRU8B8EJNLZDQ=w1871-h1211][color=darkblue][b](
> T8 Alternative Feeder System)[/b][/color][/url]
> was not brought forward from the Draft
> Environmental Impact Statement study.

OK, I'm sure not trying to pick a fight here, so please allow me to retroactively preface what I wrote before with "What I've read is..."

I don't quite understand what you're saying -- are you agreeing or disagreeing with what I said? Sorry if I'm seeming dense.

Greybeard Wrote:

OK, I'm sure not trying to pick a fight here, so please allow me to retroactively preface what I wrote before with "What I've read is..."

I don't quite understand what you're saying -- are you agreeing or disagreeing with what I said? Sorry if I'm seeming dense.

Just setting the record straight. There were multiple transportation studies for the Dulles Corridor. However there was only one NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) study that was required to actually build anything. What got the ball really rolling were the multiple proposals that were floated during the 1990s that resulted in the Dulles Corridor Transportation Project NEPA study. That study evolved into the Dulles Corridor Metrorail project.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2017 09:16AM by Sand Box John.

WMATA: Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project progress update e-mail 03 22 2017

Construction Passes 56 Percent During Very Mild Winter

Old Man Winter has been especially kind to construction of Phase 2 of the Silver Line.


Aerial construction at the entrance into Dulles Airport captures a dynamic view of the Dulles Terminal as the American flag blows in the wind.
Photo by Jennifer Thomas Alcott, Capital Rail Constructors

Bad weather never really stopped us, according to vice president and project executive director Charles Stark who recently said construction of the main system-the track, the stations, the support infrastructure etc. has topped the 56 percent mark and construction at the huge rail yard being built on Dulles Airport property is at 46 percent.

According to a recent report on the status of construction prepared by John Kearney, the project's construction manager, plenty has been accomplished recently. For example, 223 deck spans have been poured. That's 76 percent of the total needed. All 183 of the needed pier caps have been poured.

In March, the final aerial guideway girders at Dulles International Airport were set in place near Saarinen Circle. The four 84-inch tall precast concrete girders measure nearly 140 feet long, weigh approximately 95 tons each, and will support the Silver Line Metrorail trains that will run through the airport, says Jennifer Alcott, a spokeswoman for the construction contract.

Kearney said crews continue to drill and set anchor bolts and bearings on the pier caps for girders on the aerial guideway columns, and continue to install girders at the entrance to Dulles Airport.

Also, aerial deck spans continue to be poured just west of the airport station. Straddle bents have been set over the eastbound lanes of the Dulles Greenway.


Cast-in-place concrete activities are ongoing at the Herndon Station south pavilion site.
Photo by Jennifer Thomas Alcott, Capital Rail Constructors

Soon crews will be installing pedestrian bridges at five stations to provide access to the stations.

Drainage work and track wall construction continue. Protective slabs over Fairfax County's waterline near the Reston Station are being installed.

Hand mining for utility tunnels demanded by high-density granite is wrapping up and communication lines are being relocated to make way for installation of the pedestrian bridges. Directional drilling continues beneath Horsepen Pond to provide for utility line installations.Track work continues all along the line at grade and in the air.

Station foundation work continues at the Loudoun Gateway Station and at the Ashburn Station.

At the Reston Town Center Station, precast erections and station wall work is underway. At Herndon Station, structural steel installation for the vault roof has begun along with precast detailing and grouting. Cast-in-place columns are being set, the pier for the pedestrian bridge is being built, and walls and decks are being installed at the South Pavilion.


Roof panels are welded in place at Innovation Center Station.
Photo by Jennifer Thomas Alcott, Capital Rail Constructors


At Innovation Center Station, tabletop piers will support the pedestrian bridges that will provide access between the station and the south side of the rail line.
Photo by Jennifer Thomas Alcott, Capital Rail Constructors


DCMP crews pour the leveling/erection slab in preparation for the installation of the pre-cast tubs.
Photo by Capital Rail Constructors staff

DID YOU KNOW?
The pavilion on the south side of Herndon Monroe Station will receive pedestrian bridge steel that will be assembled into the bridge sections near the TPSS#13 site. These large pieces of bridge can be seen along the south side of the Dulles Toll Road, and soon will be part of the future pedestrian bridge to Herndon Station.

Watch for Lane Shifts in Tysons Corner

Don't be surprised when you see some Dulles Rail Project construction crews working in Tysons.

Crews are doing some maintenance and warranty work at several locations and there is some need for lane closings while this work is being done.

In late March, curb realignments take place at three locations - on Tysons Boulevard and at two spots along Route 7. All three require lane closures.

Also, rail project crews and VDOT representatives, along with a team of contractors and inspectors, will clean some storm drain pipes along Route 7, using a camera to video and inspect both storm drains and underdrains.

Crews also will identify, measure and document deficiencies they may find. This work will require weekly nighttime lane closures. The first set of lane closures will be on westbound Route 7. The public will be notified in advance of this work.

VDOT and MWAA will coordinate safety and weather-related impacts on the work. Motorists are likely to see Fairfax Police Department escorts working at intersections and multiple lane closures.

Fairfax County Parking Garages: Herndon and Innovation Center
Fairfax County Department of Transportation has partnered with the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services to fund the construction of both the Herndon and Innovation Center garages. The new parking garages will feature the following amenities:

• Garage operations - Smart Trip, credit card, hours of operations similar to existing garages in the system (use of WMATA fare collection system)
• Bike racks, lockers/bike room provided at both garages
• Infrastructure provided for electric vehicle charging stations
• Innovation will have an ice-melting machine for the roof parking
• Herndon's new and existing garages will include a vehicle and pedestrian connection

Link to PDF version at Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project web site.

WOW, looking great thread.

Looking back at the earlier pictures and the dates they were posted, where the hell did the last 7-8 years go??

Wife is now working in a building that did not exist in Tyson's 5 years ago.

Unbelievable the changes along with the new parking lot called I-495 North into Maryland.

Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project Pictures 02 04 2017

Things continue along at a fast pace, even faster in areas then what I would have expected at this point.

Right of way barrier construction along the Dulles Access Road is closing in on the construction access points. Jersey barriers are being installed at point between the Toll Road and Access Road where the Access Road is being realigned.

Reston Town Center has it platform slab in place. All of the cast in place concrete work to support the mezzanine is done. Precast mezzanine parapets have begun to be installed. Columns for the north entrance pedestrian bridge have begun to come up out of the ground. Escalator and elevator pits for the north entrance pavilion are mostly complete. Site clearing for the south entrance has yet to begin. Preparation are mostly complete for the pouring of the slabs at traction power substation #12 along Sunset Hill Road at the west end of the station.

Ground work for the third rail conduits at both ends on the maintenance track siding interlockings east of Herndon has been mostly complete. You can now clearly see where the maintenance track siding will be. The contractor doing the right of way barriers on both sides of the Herndon station is using two concrete slip form machines.

Herndon has the mezzanine canopy structural frame mostly complete. A hand full of pieces of steel at the west end remain to be set. The last piece of steel will be set after the tower crane is removed. All of the poured in place concrete work for the south entrance pavilion is done. Work on the column for the north entrance has begun.

Traction power substation #13 is done. All that remains to be done is the setting of the precast walls that will enclose the substation.

At traction power substation #14 east of the Innovation Center Station along Sunrise Valley Drive, the base above the ground work has yet to be brought up to elevation of the slab.

At Innovation Center the corrugated sheet medal on the mezzanine canopy appears to have had some issues as some of the panels that were in place in January are no longer there. All of the column for the south entrance pedestrian bridge are done. Foundations for the precast at the entrance pavilion have been poured. Curb and gutter work for the south entrance bus terminal has been done south of the the south entrance pavilion. Columns for the north entrance pedestrian bridges are a various stages of completion. Ground work and grading remains to be done at the north entrance.

The laying of track has begun from a point west of Innovation Center to Rudder Road at Dulles Airport on outbound track N2. The track work contractor has left a gap from the west end of the bridge over Horsepin Run to east of the interlocking west of Sulley Road. Turnout ties, parts for the turnouts and the double crossover diamond frogs have been delivered to the site of the interlocking. The preliminary engineering drawing showed a pair of crossovers in this interlocking. The layout of the third rail conduits and the presents of the diamond frogs is an obvious indication that a double crossover will be installed there. The adjacent traction power substation #15 is awaiting the the setting of the precast walls that will enclose the substation.

All of the girders from the east abutment to the east end of the Dulles Airport station have been set. Deck pouring operations are going east to west from the abutment and has begun.

Structural work to enclose the pedestrian tunnel at the Dulles Airport station entrance is well under way. A heavy duty steel girder has been installed above the opening of the pedestrian tunnel on the garage side of the station entrance. The girder is on the same line of the of the north side of the open cut wall of the mezzanine. There will be mezzanine level ancillary areas behind that wall. Three of the four mezzanine to platform elevator shaft frames are in place, the fourth one is roughly one quarter done. A frame to support the east bank of the mezzanine to platform escalators has been set, a similar frame for the upper west bank has also been set. Girder for five of the of the track bed spans remain to be set at the east end of the station, two spans on track N1 and three on track N2. Girder for the remaining two platform spans at the east end of the station remain to be set. Precast platform slabs have been set on all but one of the girders. Track bed deck slabs have been completed on the elevated west of the station along with the setting of the parapets.

Welded rail has been staged on the elevated along Airfreight Lane. I think we can safely assume track has been laid on the elevated along Autopilot Drive as most of the track fastener staged under the elevated are gone. Ground work for traction power tiebreaker station #7 under the elevated adjacent to the entrance of Avis Rent A Car return is mostly complete. Ground work at traction power substation #17 north of Autopilot Drive and Windshear Road is also mostly complete.

On the Dulles Greenway where the mainline flies over the eastbound lanes the straddle bents are done. The forms for the barring points on straddle bent 6 have been poured, forms for the barring points on straddle bent 5 appear to have not been poured. Girders have been set on the span east of the west abutment, the two other, west of the straddle bent spans have not been set. Deck slab is being poured on the west yard lead fly over of the eastbound Dulles Greenway. Rebar has been placed for the retaining walls west of the mainline west abutment. The first segment of the retaining walls west of the west yard lead abutment has been completed. Expect a roller coaster ride from where the mainline flies over the Dulles Greenway to just south of Old Ox Road as the west Yard lead junction will be on a grade several feet above the elevation of the road surface. Roughly one third of the length of the retaining wall in the area has been completed. The vertical realignment of the mainline will descend west after flying over the eastbound Dulles Greenway, pass under the west yard lead then ascend to a vertical curve east of the west yard lead junction then descend to pass under Old Ox Road. I believe the reason for doing this was the place the west yard lead junction as close to traction power substation #18 and keep the yard lead grades to a minimum.

The frame of the shop building in Dulles Yard is mostly complete. Slabs have been poured on the the upper floors and roof. Much of the ground work for the third rail conduits has been done. Trackwork has begun on parts of the storage yard ladder and the leads between the storage yard and shop building. Because of the low viewing angle it is not easy to determine the progress on all of the facilities being built in the yard.

Grading for the new alignment of the eastbound lanes of Old Ox Road adjacent to the storage tracks in Dulles yard has begun. The contractor has established a staging area up stream of the existing crossing of Old Ox Road over Horsepen Run in preparation for the shifting of the lanes from the existing alignment to the new west bound bridge to allow the construction of the eastbound bridge.

The barrier walls along the full length of the Loudoun Gateway station are done along with the invert slab under the platform. Roughly one fifth of the precast platform slabs have been set. Ground is being cleared on the south side at eastbound exit 8A of the Dulles Greenway for traction power tiebreaker station #11 adjacent to the interlocking west of the Loudoun Gateway station.

Ground work at traction power substation #19 is mostly done. Trenching of the 35 KV AC power buss is under way between Loudoun Gateway and Ashburn.

Out in Ashburn things are progressing more evenly. The barrier walls at the mezzanine end of the station have begun to come up out of the ground. At the same time the foundations for both the north and south entrance pavilion are being built along with one of the columns for the south entrance pedestrian bridge. The bus roadway that runs parallel to the Dulles Greenway for the south entrance has had the first lifts of asphalt laid alone with the curbs and gutters on the Dulles Greenway side.

###

Pictures at plus.google.com 04 02 2017
This and previous posts in this series can be seen at cambronj.blogspot.com.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2017 11:40AM by Sand Box John.

Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project progress update e-mail 03 22 2017

Saarinen's Purpose in Design


Dulles Airport Station was designed to mimic the iconic Saarinen-designed main terminal at Dulles Airport which has been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places.
Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

Atop of the list of considerations designers of Metro's Silver Line extension through Dulles International Airport was the protecting the main terminal's façade, the result of one of architect Eero Saarinen's creative bursts.

Saarinen, the son of architect Eliel Saarinen, placed his mark on a number of familiar buildings despite living only to the age of 51. In fact, death came before many of his more well-known structures reached completion.

Eero (pronounced the same as arrow) Saarinen's first major project came after he outperformed his father in a competition to design the St. Louis Jefferson Memorial. His design resulted in the St. Louis Arch.


Saarinen got his first big break when his arch design was chosen for the St. Louis Jefferson Memorial. Saarinen's father was among the entrants.
Photo courtesy of the Jefferson National Expansion Monument.

"Our architecture is too humble. It should be prouder, more aggressive, much richer and larger than we see today," Saarinen once said, according to The Architect Who Saw the Future, part of the PBS American Masters series. "I would like to do my part in expanding that richness."

The oval-shaped road that provides access to the airport and loops around the daily and hourly parking lots at Dulles Airport bears the architect's name: Saarinen Circle.

A brain tumor took Saarinen's life in 1961 at the age of 51, before many of his projects would reach completion, including the Dulles terminal.

"He already saw it in the model stage," recalled Eric Saarinen in the film he created about his father. "He was like a giant looking down."


Eero Saarinen designed the main terminal at Dulles Airport.
Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

Saarinen believed architecture was an important part of the human endeavor, not just a way to provide space and shelter.

"Architecture also has the purpose of marking and enhancing man's time on Earth," Saarinen once said, adding that the character of those occupying building should become part of the design.

"I hope that some of my buildings will have lasting truths," he said. "I admit quite frankly I would like to have a place in architectural history."

Since 1978, the Dulles terminal has been eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

When he designed Dulles, as well as the TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport in New York, he wanted to demonstrate a sense of traveling through the air. Dulles also credits Saarinen with developing the mobile lounge concept in which roving vehicles carried passengers between the main terminal and their gates.


With his curved design for the TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport Saarinen aimed to create a sense of traveling through air. The facility now serves as a hotel at the airport.
Photo courtesy of MCR Development.

A few other projects Saarinen designed:

• The TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport in New York was Saarinen's attempt to "conquer gravity," using a curved concrete design not used at the time.
• Deere & Company's farming equipment showroom in Moline, IL.
• Saarinen-designed chairs were used in magazine ad campaigns for Coca Cola, Southern Comfort and others.
• CBS Building in New York City.
• Saarinen-designed pedestal furniture became popular in the '50s, with features such as one-legged chairs.
• Built Miller House as a private project.
• Kresge Auditorium on MIT's campus in Cambridge, MA.
• Mores and Stiles College at Yale University New Haven, CT.
• North Christian Church in Columbus, IN.

The Dulles Airport Station design mimics Saarinen's design for the main terminal.

The Dulles terminal is also the reason a different design was chosen for the Silver Line's Dulles Airport Station than for the other Phase 2 stations. The design resembles the shape of the terminal.

Pedestrian Bridge Work Coming Soon to Innovation


A pedestrian bridge segment ready to be set.
Photo courtesy of Capital Rail Constructors</

Steel for roof at Loudoun Gateway going up in June

Some of the most challenging and exciting parts of construction of the Silver Line Phase 2 will begin in late May or early June.

That's when construction of the pedestrian bridges that will provide access to the stations along the 11-mile alignment from Reston to Ashburn will begin, according to John Kearney, the project's construction manager for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

The first segments of those bridges will be put into place at Innovation Station, which sits in the median of the Dulles International Airport Access Highway east of Route 28, near the old Center for Innovative Technology building, the upside down pyramid-shaped structure on the north side of the Dulles Toll Road corridor.

Specific dates will be announced later this month.

Cranes will be used for the installation, according to the contractor Capital Rail Constructors.

Installing these bridges will cause significant lane closures. Public notices will be issued on a weekly and daily basis before and during this work.

A schedule for installations at other stations is not yet available.

Also planned for the coming weeks:

• Continuing steel erection of the Reston Station roof.
• Beginning of erection of roof steel at Loudoun Gateway Station Setting precast concrete sections of eastern end of Dulles Station.
• Ongoing construction inside the pedestrian tunnel for those going to or from the main terminal at Dulles to Parking Garage 1.
• Road repairs and paving at the Herndon Park and Ride lot near an entrance to the station.

Rail Yard Happenings


Work is plugging along at the Rail and Maintenance Yard at Dulles Airport which will employ about 300 people.
Photo courtesy of Hensel Phelps Construction.

At the 90-acre rail yard being built on Dulles Airport property off Route 606, lots of work is taking place, according to Dave Bonnallie, construction manager of the yard.

Rail special track installations are taking place along with, site grading, seeding, road construction, and installation of lighting and other systems.

Structural steel is going up for maintenance facilities and other structures, along with roofing and interior finishing and mechanical installations.

###

Link to PDF version at Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project web site.