What's Up With That?

Since groundbreaking in April, the Reston Station site (at Wiehle Avenue and the Dulles Toll Road) has been the center of non-stop activity.

Backhoes travel back and forth, with the incessant backing-up beep. The parade of dump trucks is constant, removing dirt and debris from the site.

Because of the screened fences, it is hard to know what is happening, but progress is

The area to be excavated has been divided into eight sections. The first pair of sections has been completed and work has begun on the next two sections. 

To date, 200,000 cubic yards of dirt have been removed from the site, says Comstock director of communications and community outreach Maggie Parker. 

When all the sites have been completed, over a half million cubic yards of dirt will have been moved, enough to fill the Redskins' FedEx Field to the top.  All the dirt is being used in local projects, which is both cost effective for the contractors and environmentally sound for the community.

Once the excavation is completed in a section, the focus shifts to concrete.  The Reston Station construction zone will have two concrete batch plants on site, to maintain the quality of the concrete for this large project.

The first of five cranes to transport the concrete to where it is needed has been erected.  This crane is 200 feet tall; the next one to go up will be 300 feet tall, the tallest a non-tethered crane can be. They have a reach of 200 feet or more.

The dump trucks continue non-stop, two scoops of dirt and out. Speed reducing troughs were installed to keep trucks from moving too quickly. 

The other non-stop action is the street cleaning on Wiehle. The sweepers work to keep up with the dirt and other debris that work its way onto the street. The screened fences around the worksite were not so much as to keep the activity inside a secret, but to help keep the dust from blowing onto the roads.

 “It is fascinating to work on a project this large,” said Parker.

So large, that when the last sections are finally excavated, the first sections will be nearing completion, ready to have residents move into the luxury apartments.

“Reston Station construction is a phenomenal task of planning and interfacing with Metro, Dulles Transit to make it all come together successfully," said Parker. "This is really a beautifully choreographed project. The final product is better because of the professional partnerships.”

Knowing that people are curious about the project and the work being done, Comstock Partners has installed a webcam where one can get a bird’seye view of both the Reston Station progress and the Metro progress.  Parker is also hoping to be able to work with the area schools so the students can learn from the construction site.

Construction on Reston Station is scheduled to be completed in late 2013.