Task Force Gets a Look at Traffic Trouble

The Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force got a look Tuesday at where some of Reston's tightest traffic spots may be after Metrorail's Silver Line opens —and what projects will be planned to alleviate congestion.

Dan Southworth, senior transportation planner for the Fairfax County Department of Transportation, and Dan Goldfarb of Cambridge Systematics showed task force members estimates using the high end of George Mason University's projections, plus an additional 20 percent increase in residential population.

GMU's projections estimate 43,236 jobs and 17,620 households added to Reston between 2010 and 2030.

The transportation analysis points out that the majority of trips around Reston will be by vehicle and that several intersections — Reston Parkway and Sunset Hills Road and Reston Parkway and Sunrise Valley Drive, among them — will need what the planners call "full build improvements" to alleviate the situation.

Reston's first Silver Line Station at Wiehle Avenue is slated to open in late 2013.

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