PURPOSE and NEED for the PROPOSED ACTION This Chapter Describes the Dulles Corridor and Identifies the Need for the Proposed Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project
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1 PURPOSE AND NEED FOR THE PROPOSED ACTION This chapter describes the Dulles Corridor and identifies the need for the proposed Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project. The alternative formerly known as “LPA Phase 1” in the October 2003 Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Section 4(f) Evaluation has been renamed the Wiehle Avenue Extension in this Final EIS and is expected to begin operations in 2011. This change reflects the federal approach to the project’s funding under the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program. It will assure consistency among the environmental, engineering and financial documents during the project’s development. In the October 2003 Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Section 4(f) Evaluation as well as this Final EIS, the term “full LPA” represents the Wiehle Avenue Extension and the second phase of the Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project. This second phase would extend west from Wiehle Avenue to Washington Dulles International Airport and Route 772 and is expected to begin operations in 2015. The term “LPA”, “proposed action”, or “selected LPA” refers to both the Wiehle Avenue Extension and the full LPA collectively. Section 1.1 provides an overview of the Dulles Corridor, the corridor needs, and the proposed project. It also includes a brief introduction of the various sponsoring agencies for the project. Section 1.2 briefly introduces the proposed action for the Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project. Section 1.3 describes the planning context in which the Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project was developed, including identification of the various methods used to create public involvement opportunities. In addition to a discussion of previous studies, related studies, and plans, the section includes an overview of the role of this Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in the environmental review and project development process. Section 1.4 defines the boundaries of both the Washington metropolitan region and the Dulles Corridor, and describes key characteristics of both. The activity centers within the corridor are identified, the existing transportation network is described, and the overall travel patterns between the corridor and the region are outlined. Section 1.5 discusses the need for transportation improvements in the Dulles Corridor. Section 1.6 identifies the goals and objectives of the project, which were used to evaluate the relative merits of the alternatives under consideration in this Final EIS. Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project 1-1 Final Environmental Impact Statement PURPOSE AND NEED FOR THE PROPOSED ACTION 1.1 OVERVIEW The Dulles Corridor, located in Northern Virginia, west of the nation’s capital (see Figure 1.1-1) is home to several of the Washington metropolitan region’s most dynamic and rapidly growing activity centers. Extending from the vicinity of West Falls Church Metrorail Station in Fairfax County, Virginia, to Route 772 in Loudoun County, Virginia, the 23-mile corridor includes the high-density office buildings and regional shopping centers of Tysons Corner; the residences, shopping centers, and suburban office complexes of the Reston-Herndon area; the rapidly growing Washington Dulles International Airport (Dulles Airport); and an emerging residential and employment center in eastern Loudoun County. With the Dulles Corridor’s increasing attractiveness as a place to live and work, travel in the corridor has been steadily growing over the past 15 years. This increasing travel demand has strained the capacity of the existing transportation network, causing delays and increasing travel times between activity centers within the corridor and the region. The central and eastern portions of the corridor currently experience some of the region’s worst traffic congestion. Over the next 25 years, continued development of the corridor as a regional employment destination, and the maturation of residential communities and commercial areas within the corridor, is expected to far outpace the growth of the region as a whole. Parallel increases in travel demand are projected to exceed the capacity of the corridor’s already overburdened transportation system, resulting in severely congested conditions on numerous routes, further degradation of air quality, and a threat to the valued quality of life in the Dulles Corridor. The ability to expand roadway capacity in the corridor beyond currently planned improvements is limited. Planned roadway enhancements are not expected to relieve the current state of congestion, which is already near or at gridlock conditions in many locations. Moreover, the existing corridor transit system is limited as an alternative to auto travel because local bus service is also hampered by traffic congestion. Given these factors and a need to reduce auto emissions in the region to meet federal air quality standards, alternative transportation improvements in the Dulles Corridor, such as a high-quality, high- capacity rapid transit line, have long been the focus of public and private sector studies. Rapid transit in the Dulles Corridor was initially explored in the 1950s as part of the planning of Dulles Airport. At that time, it was decided to reserve the median of the Dulles International Airport Access Highway (DIAAH), previously known as the Dulles Airport Access Road, for future transit access to the airport. Subsequently, the need for transit in the corridor was evaluated in the late 1960s during the planning of the regional Metrorail system. While Metrorail’s original Adopted Regional System did not include a connection to Dulles Airport, extending rapid transit service to the airport has remained a local and regional goal. In recent years, providing a rapid transit connection to Dulles Airport was evaluated in the Dulles Corridor Transportation Study (1997) and the Supplement to the Dulles Corridor Transportation Study (1999). The former, a Major Investment Study (MIS), recommended developing a rail line between the Metrorail Orange Line and Route 772 primarily using the median of the DIAAH. The MIS Supplement in 1999 recommended developing this rail line through a phased implementation program that would begin with enhanced express bus services, then use bus rapid transit (BRT) technology to institute rapid transit service in the Dulles Corridor as quickly as possible. BRT is an emerging transit mode in which buses are used to provide high-quality service akin to a rapid rail system. The BRT line would then be converted to rail use as project development progressed. Final Environmental Impact Statement 1-2 Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project POT OMAC RIVE R Maryland 270 Montgomery County 640 Virginia 772 D U L L E S G R E E NW AY Herndon 7 193 Prince George's Reston County 267 IAAH / D D T R Dulles International Airport Tysons Washington, D.C. 28 Corner ty ounty un C 123 ax Vienna 495 irf Fa 29 Arlington Co Falls 50 Church ty n 66 Reagan National Airport Loudoun Cou City of Arlington Fairfax County Fairfax 395 Alexandria 95 495 Fairfax County 495 PrinceWilliamCounty October2003 FEIS_1.1-1_DullesCorridor_v1 LEGEND Figure 1.1-1 County Boundary Virginia Jurisdictions Dulles Corridor State Boundary Major Airports Major Arterials 0 1.75 3.5 MILES Dulles Corridor Limits DIAAH/DTR is the Dulles International Airport Access Highway/Dulles Toll Road PURPOSE AND NEED FOR THE PROPOSED ACTION Most recently, these recommended transit alternatives for the Dulles Corridor were evaluated for the Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Section 4(f) Evaluation (Draft EIS) published in June 2002. The results of the evaluation assisted the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), local and regional decision-makers, and the public in understanding the potential effects of the alternatives under consideration for the project and in selecting a proposed action. Based on the analysis contained in the Draft EIS, public comments received on the document, and agency coordination, a new Metrorail extension from the existing Orange Line to Route 772 in Loudoun County was selected as the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for the project by the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) and by the WMATA Board of Directors in late 2002. Like the alternative recommended in the 1997 MIS, the rail line would primarily use the median of the DIAAH, leaving the highway to directly serve Tysons Corner and Dulles Airport. However, unlike the recommendations of the MIS Supplement, the selected LPA was not proposed to be developed through a phased implementation program that included BRT as an interim step to rail. Following the publication of the Draft EIS and selection of the Metrorail Alternative as the LPA, additional agency and public coordination resulted in revisions to the selected LPA. The potential effects of these changes—which included design modifications to the preferred alignment and facilities, adjustment of opening years, and scheduling construction of the project in two phases—were documented in the Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Section 4(f) Evaluation (Supplemental Draft EIS) published in October 2003. Although many of the merits and potential impacts of the proposed LPA were similar to those presented in the Draft EIS, the Supplemental Draft EIS allowed decision makers to fully and explicitly examine the effects of the revised LPA compared to the Metrorail Alternative evaluated in the Draft EIS and a No Build Alternative. Based on the analysis contained in the Supplemental Draft EIS, public comments received on the document, and agency coordination, in March 2004 the CTB approved the revision of the LPA to incorporate the elements required for phased construction and the design refinements outlined in the Supplemental Draft EIS and recommended in its Public Hearings Report. In April 2004, the WMATA Board of Directors took similar action to revise the LPA. The Locally Preferred Alternative, as it is now defined, is described and evaluated in this Final EIS (See Figure 1.1-2).