What's Up With That?

In just about a year, Metro's Silver Line Wiehle-Reston East station will open, moving passengers via rail to Tysons, DC and beyond.

The progress at is taking shape - but what of the lonely escalators all the way on the other side of the Dulles Toll Road?

The parking garage and bus bays on the north side of the toll road will connect to the station at Sunset Hills and Wiehle. But on the south side, there sit two escalators only accessible from the parking lots off Centennial Park Drive and Association Drive.

Those lots are privately owned by Vornado  Realty Trust and there are signs everywhere that say violators will be towed. A large parking garage in the middle of that area serves the many offices there and already has gate access.

There are no current plans for a public Metro parking lot on the other side of the Toll Road, says Maggie Parker, spokeswoman for Comstock, which is developing the public-private parking garage.

Pedestrians coming from the Soapstone/Sunrise Valley/South Lakes area would be able to access the escalators, but would have to come from Sunrise Valley, which is not pedestrian-friendly in the area around Wiehle.

Terry Maynard of advocacy group Reston 2020 says his organization of citizens is not advocating more parking on the south side of the toll road. 

Maynard says they would like to see bus access and a kiss-and-ride lane to those escalators.

"It would relieve traffic going across the bridge," he said. "We are trying to discourage people from parking near the Metro at all. Right now, the only access planned [on the south side] is a trail from the end of the road bridge to the escalators.

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