Will Metrorail's New Silver Line Spur TOD?

By Paul Moyer, AICP

Building transit lines doesn't guarantee that transit-oriented development will occur. TOD takes good planning, the right market forces, and patience — sometimes decades of effort. With the resurgence in development of transit and the construction and expansion of transit lines in many cities such as St. Louis; Charlotte, North Carolina; Washington, D.C.; and Orlando, it is a good time to look at best practices learned from the more mature systems.

The extension of Metrorail service in Northern Virginia provides a timely case study of the challenges facing TOD, particularly in a suburban environment. Soon the 11.4-mile first phase of the new Silver Line will become operational, connecting Falls Church in Arlington County to Reston in Fairfax County, with Phase 2 running another 11 miles westward to bucolic Loudoun County. 

Heading eastward, the Silver Line extension will join the Orange Line just west of Falls Church, continue through downtown D.C. with the Orange and Blue Lines, and end at Largo Town Center in Largo, Maryland, stopping at all the existing stations along the way. The Silver Line is scheduled for completion in 2018, although the first phase will open in 2014. 

For an excellent example of the lifecycle that TOD could experience along the Silver Line, take a look at Metrorail's Rosslyn–Ballston Corridor in neighboring Arlington County (pop. 220,000). The county was considered a suburb of Washington, D.C., until the 1980s, when county leaders saw that growth was inevitable. But they knew residents would only accept growth if it didn't jeopardize the character of single-family neighborhoods, so they directed it to areas immediately adjacent to Metro's Orange subway line. 

Such foresight set into motion the development of a mixed use, transit-oriented growth plan that fostered high density, seamless mobility, and the creation of a sophisticated urban environment. Today Arlington is often described as suburban urbanity, and the Rosslyn–Ballston Metro corridor has long been one of the strongest real estate markets in the country. 

While the Arlington experience may be considered a model of planned growth and transit development, it is important to note that the market took more than 30 years to catch up with the original vision and plan for corridor growth. There can sometimes be a disjunction between the quality of the TOD planning vision and the reality of development economics. The benefits may take decades to unfold, however valid the planning vision.

In learning from the past and anticipating the future, we can point to several key factors that would impact development along the new Silver Line, slowly changing living and transportation patterns commonly associated with suburbia.

Critical factors

Time. Planning and patience are the keys to the success of TOD. The original planning principles for the Rosslyn–Ballston corridor remained largely intact throughout its transformation despite economic slowdowns and changing market dynamics. In fact, much of the new density in Arlington County was programmed into the three-mile Rosslyn–Ballston Corridor through a carefully devised up-zoning policy approved by adjoining neighborhoods 30 years ago.

Before Metrorail came along, the corridor was a low-rise commercial area linking stable, largely single-family residential neighborhoods along Wilson Boulevard, which runs through Arlington County. With the opening of Metro stations at Rosslyn, Courthouse, Clarendon, Virginia Square, and Ballston (a commercial and office center near Interstate 66), plus Glebe Road (a major north-south traffic route), real estate brokers noted that residential pricing within a quarter- to a half-mile of the Metro stations was 15 percent higher — regardless of the condition of the property — than comparable listings located farther from the rail line.

Good pedestrian accessibility to mass transit quickly drove up property values, fueling density. But growth came incrementally — and the same will be true with the Silver Line. It will begin with small islands of development that — with the right ongoing planning, design, and infrastructure improvements — will grow into legitimate transit-oriented developments over the following years.

Station location. The placement of a station — underground, aboveground, or in a highway median — and its physical characteristics play a key role in integrating the station with the community and how it impacts development patterns.

The Rosslyn–Ballston Corridor consists of five underground stations. The density around them is the highest of all three station types, and the placement has fostered a seamless development pattern with a continuous street grid and walkway system above the stations that support 24 million square feet of office space and more than 25,000 residents.

The aboveground Metro stations are less successful in that regard, but they offer important lessons. King Street Station, Braddock Road Station, and Eisenhower Avenue, all located in Alexandria, Virginia, have helped spur significant development, but their platforms are still not fully integrated with surrounding development.

In each case the platforms are elevated 20 feet or more, separating the stations from their surrounding neighborhoods and creating a physical barrier. All of these stations include large amounts of adjacent surface parking — creating a greater divide. These aboveground stations have seen much slower development than underground stations, although it does depend on the configuration of land infrastructure associated with the station.

One solution would be to integrate the Metrorail stations and platforms directly into mixed use development instead of treating stations as a separate physical building, which then requires various treatments to connect with the adjacent development. This is how underground stations function: They are an integral part of the buildings and associated streetscape, creating a connection to the station exit.

Rising above I-66's median, the East and West Falls Church and Vienna stations illustrate a very different development pattern. Commuter parking and a mixture of housing types are the primary uses of space next to each station. Their median placement separates the stations from the residential areas, and there is limited mixed use development or retail development nearby. These suburban areas have been less impacted by transit.

A 2010 plan for the East Falls Church station proposed mixed use development on several key sites, including the existing parking lot. Virginia's Department of Transportation has issued a Request of Interest for developers who may want to develop the air rights above I-66 and a portion of the Metro. These activities highlight the fact that it has taken three decades for the pressure to build for further development in this area.

At the Vienna Metro station, located 10 miles west of Washington, in neighboring Fairfax County, the MetroWest development has been in process for nearly 10 years. The town houses have moved toward completion, but the higher density mixed use development nearest the Metrorail station has taken longer. 

Recently, the developer offered an alternative plan for the retail center, proposing a significant reduction in density that would yield a more suburban-style development. The change reflects current market conditions, the developer argued, noting that the original plan's larger mixed use development was unlikely to evolve for 15 to 20 years and describing the revised plan as a temporary use that will develop more densely in the future.

It's clear from these examples of long-existing aboveground and highway stations that it will take the Silver Line — whose 11 stations are all above ground — much longer to become a TOD than did the Rosslyn–Ballston Corridor.

Existing development. The style, age, and scale of existing development around the planned Silver Line stations will impact new development.

The Silver Line is planned as a 23-mile Metrorail system extension connecting the existing East Falls Church station in Arlington to Loudoun County (pop. 349,000) to the west. The existing land-use patterns around each of the new stations are suburban, ranging from high-density suburban environments in Tysons Corner in Fairfax County to lower density suburban areas in Loudoun County.

The high-density suburban, car-dominated nature of one area, Tysons Corner, makes a seamless TOD environment difficult. Tysons is characterized by eight-lane main roads, suburban curb cuts, strip development, and two of the largest enclosed malls in the U.S. One of the new Silver Line stations is located between the malls, but it is elevated 30 feet above the road and will require substantial bridging to make pedestrian connections.

The Silver Line is already spurring redevelopment in the western portions of Tysons Corner, near the major throughway, Route 7 (Leesburg Pike). One project includes a multistory retail center including a Walmart, 24 Hour Fitness gym, restaurants, and 30,000 square feet of office space. Future phases will include office and hotel uses. This development replaced a car dealership.

Islands of development

As the Silver Line becomes fully operational, islands of new urban TOD projects surrounded by suburban-style development will take shape for years to come. But some of these areas may lack connectivity to the adjacent developments or to Metrorail stations. Metro is constructing a number of overpasses and other direct connections to rail stations, which will help, but the scale and style of these islands will have limited impact on the creation of a high-quality urban environment. 

The area around the new Greensboro Metro station along Route 7, just northwest of Route 123, has been designated in the Tysons Corner Urban Center Comprehensive Plan as a high-density mixed use center. Over time, planners and others anticipate that this area will become Fairfax County's downtown, with commercial development, market-rate and affordable housing, urban open space, and pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly streets.

Beyond Tysons, the town of Herndon provides another example of TOD planning. It has engaged my company, the planning and engineering firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, to prepare a Station Area Master Plan. The plan lays out a framework for redeveloping the areas north of the Herndon station, which includes adding 3.7 million square feet of commercial development and 2,300 residential units. The planned development would increase the floor area ratio to 4.0 from 1.0.

Herndon is working on zoning changes and other supporting plans and policies to encourage TOD-style projects near the station while also providing pedestrian-friendly connections to the historic village center nearby. The challenge will be to link the traditional core with the TOD center. In Herndon, higher density development is somewhat limited because of existing residential areas near the station, but there is still significant opportunity for redevelopment.

From these experiences, we can begin to anticipate what to expect and also plan where to go from here:

Development will slow after the initial wave, and it's likely that gaps will occur between existing and newer development for many years. Developers have submitted plans that essentially would use all allowed development density — more than 36 million square feet — identified in the Tysons Corner Plan. That said, build-out could take much more than 25 years. Still to be determined is how these islands of development will connect to each other to create a seamless, successful TOD environment.

All modes of station access should be planned for and integrated into the system. Vehicles, buses, pedestrians, and bicycles are all important to creating attractive, efficient, and vibrant TOD around the stations — as is integrating the rail stations into lives of residents. Investment in multiple transportation modes and infrastructure will help get people to the station without driving. This will require more than simply filling the gaps in the sidewalk network. It will take careful design and improvements to that network to help people get across wide streets, interchanges, and suburban areas.

Ultimate success of TOD in suburban environments requires bold moves to reshape each location, while addressing practical short-term needs each step of the way. Some of the specific elements of these interim steps are:

• Parking ratios that decline over time as the TOD area becomes more transit friendly and less dependent on vehicles;
• Incorporating interim buildings or other elements such as pop-up retail that can create some pedestrian vibrancy until permanent development occurs;
• Providing continuous pedestrian and bike facilities that connect the islands of development;
• Mitigating the impact of construction activities on existing buildings and infrastructure; and
• Frequent and open communication.

Paul Moyer is director of planning for Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB) in the firm's Tysons Corners office. He has been practicing planning in the Washington, D.C., area for 26 years, specializing in land use, transportation, and economic development.