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Phase 1 of the Silver Line is 11.5 miles with 5 stations. By my measurement, the total distance covered from East Falls Church to Stadium-Armory is about 12 miles. If someone has track miles for this segment, please feel free to post it. So even Phase 1 of the Silver Line is about as long as the section of the Orange Line route it will use.

Phase 2 will extend the Silver Line to 23 miles with 11 stations, compared to the 26.4 mile total length of the current Orange Line from Vienna to New Carrol ton. Yes, that does show just how far outside the Beltway the Silver Line will be going.

Once the entire Silver Line is running, I expect a fair percentage of the traffic on it will be people traveling from Reston, Herndon, Dulles, Ashburn to Tysons Corner and back. They will be using only the Silver Line extension for most of their Metro traveling. Not just commuting, but to go to the Tysons shopping malls, and as Tysons develops, take the Metro from elsewhere on the new Silver Line extension to Tysons (or Reston) to go to restaurants, nightlife activities. This is more than just a short spur of the Orange Line, but instead an entirely new active part of the Metro system, regardless of how far west it extends.

Can't call Phase 1 for the 3-4 years it will be open w/o Phase 2 an Orange Line spur and then rename the extension the Silver Line when Phase 2 opens.

by AlanF on Sep 7, 2011 10:06 am • link • report