wrote it after work so sorry for my weak conclusion

On That Daily Grind
Moving away to California made me realize how much I actually appreciate my home town of Northern Virginia. Being so close to our nation’s capital, there are many businesses and opportunities here that bring in a lot of families and hard working Americans to make a living. All these good things bring one horrible thing that affects all of us; traffic. In the coming future our local and federal government will begin to construct an elevated metro rail to extend our current metro system further into our region. This decision is affecting everyone yet no one was allowed to voice their opinion. I believe that extending the metro rail below ground through Tyson’s Corner will benefit our community and is the better choice than an elevated rail.
According to the Dulles Corridor Metrorail website the average commuter spends at least nine days per year stuck in traffic. By the year 2010, five of eight major corridors will be in constant gridlock due to high volume of motorists. Over the next 20 years, employment in our area is said to increase by 63 percent, our population and travel demand will both increase by 45 percent. Currently, Tyson’s Corner and the Reston area are ranked one and two in terms of employment in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Dulles Airport is also supposed to double in the number of passengers a year in the near future.
The Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project is intended to connect the rest or Northern Virginia with the already extensive railings throughout Washington DC, Maryland and other parts of Northern Virginia. The project intends to connect Tyson’s Corner, Reston, Herndon, Dulles Airport, and Eastern Loudon County to the current Metrorail system. The construction of the elevated rail will be completed in two phases. The first phase proposed to begin in 2008 where the rail will extend from East Falls Church to Wiehle Avenue. This initial phase is expected to cost around $2.8 billion, with a shared commitment of 44 percent coming from the federal government, 28 percent by the Commonwealth of Virginia, and 28 percent by Fairfax County.
Even though we the citizens of Fairfax County and the Commonwealth of Virginia are helping to fund the Metrorail project, we do not have any say in how it should be done. The Dulles Transit Partners (“DTP”) has a contract to do the preliminary engineering work for the Dulles Metrorail Project. The Commonwealth of Virginia is not requiring the DTP to compete against other competitors in pricing this project. Not requiring them to bid against others allows the DTP to set prices what they see fit and not allow for other options and lower prices to come forth even though the contract involves public money valued in billions. The Commonwealth has the option to open this final design and construction to the public where competitive bidding would come into play. Our own Fairfax Board of Supervisors has passed a resolution urging the Commonwealth to use competitive bidding which would insure the best price for us the tax payers.
Construction of this extension is also another huge factor of this decision. During construction many homes and business will be affected whether it is the destruction of buildings, relocation and disruption of consumers for the next four to five years of construction. Choosing for a tunnel to be made through Tyson’s will have less construction risk and disruption since it will be below ground instead of above grounds through the busy roads of Tyson’s. Route 7 will actually be rerouted and some parts will be closed while utilities are reconfigured, which will cause tedious traffic delays. With a tunnel being constructed, the amount of business being disrupted and the retail community impact would be minimized. Some say that the construction of a tunnel would take more time to build but this cannot be determined since competitive bidding is not coming into play. Plus, if a tunnel were being constructed then weather conditions would not affect the process and there would be little modifications to existing power, gas and other utilities that are being rerouted for the elevated structure. With the technology in tunneling we have today, a state of the art boring machine would dig the tunnel and place supporting walls that would have less disruptive qualities to our community.
Tyson’s Corner is America’s 12th largest business district and Virginia’s largest economic center. To keep this area thriving and growing traffic is an issue that needs to be addressed but an elevated rail is not the way. With an elevated rail going through Tyson’s, this area will change dramatically into an eyesore. Up to seventy foot high concrete columns will be constructed to hold this rail up above 495. Imagine going down route seven with seventy foot concrete columns stretching over 495 then 35 foot concrete walls separating rail from road for 1,800 feet, blocking sunlight and causing pollution. This is not how I know Tyson’s and would like to know Tyson’s.
With a tunnel below ground there would be no visual side effects but only those of the stations (which are the same above or below). Not only would this elevated rail be an eyesore, but it would block sunlight to the remaining plants, trees, and animals below. Being so high above ground would result in the collection of rainwater, grease, dirt, and oil that would run off and land on our cars, roads, and pedestrians as elevated rails do in other major cities around the world. One of the most important things that might drive businesses and people, considering moving to Tyson’s, away is noise pollution caused by the actual train. With the metrorail being below ground there would be more space for parks and open space for us to engulf, with no impact on our air quality.
Many enthusiast of the elevated rail have argued against the tunnel for many reasons such as the ground underneath the Tyson’s area will not support the construction of the tunnel. This statement is not true since the ground underneath Tyson’s is similar to the ground throughout Washington D.C. and Arlington who rely on their underground tunnels for the metrorail. Plus the “TysonsTunnel Preliminary Engineering Repot shows that the tunnel can be built with little to no effect on the environment with minimized disruptions to the community in a shorter more cost-effectively manner.
Another argument made is that since preliminary engineering has already begun and construction for the actual rail is about to start, even the consideration of the tunnel will cost millions and be too expensive to construct compared to the elevated rail. This claim is entirely incorrect since Governor Kaine appointed a panel of American Society of Civil Engineers that actually found that a tunnel would be less expensive than the current proposal of the Phase I construction through Tyson’s. If the Commonwealth required the DTP to compete against other companies than it would find that a major international construction group called Dragados USA (who has experience constructing an 850 mile tunnel) submitted a fixed-price proposal of the Phase I construction for $823 million which is significantly less than the current estimated cost of the elevated rail. Finally, the tunnel is expected to last twice as long as an elevated rail and annual maintenance costs are projected to be five million less than an elevated rail so over the next 40 years the tunnel would save $200 million.
When looking at major cities, transportation is a major part of the success that helps its community get around, and with an efficient transportation system in place, daily lives will benefit tremendously. I spent three years in Tokyo, Japan who has a very sophisticated underground railway that makes it easy for anyone to travel to every corner of the city quickly that reduces the amount of traffic and the need to drive. In our area, traffic will only get worst and fast so there is definitely a need for some upgrades with our system but these upgrades should be the most efficient in everyway possible. This is why at least the consideration of a tunnel or other others should be listened to and competitive bidding should be in play. Our future stress level depends on the outcome on this project.

 

well dont really edit it i thought everyone would like to know whats going on.

www.dullesmetro.com vs www.tysonstunnel.org

 

Try to avoid vague descriptions like "a lot", and re-read sentences to make sure they flow properly. Be sure to use quotations when ripping material directly from sources, and make sure your sources are all cited. If you are turning this paper in somewhere and ask nicely I really can proof if you for you.