DC’s Metro Takes Silver Line Plans to the People

[marmar]

(Washington, D.C. — WAMU) Metro is starting to familiarize its customers with the service changes that will arrive with the opening of the Silver Line out to Reston, Virginia, a suburb west of Washington, D.C., expected by the end of the year.

The first of three open houses took place in Capitol Heights, Md. on Tuesday. “The first question people ask us is, ‘When is it going to be here?’” says Metro’s Jim Hughes. As he explains, the first phase of the $5.5 billion project is scheduled to open by the end of the year. “Particularly on the Virginia side, they’ve dealt with the construction for four years. They want it to happen.”

The Silver Line has been a big story for a long time, because it will extend rail west into Virginia, eventually to Dulles International Airport and beyond into Loudoun County once Phase II of the rail extension is completed in 2018. Even so, some folks at Metro’s open house who live at what will be the eastern end of the Silver Line — Largo Town Center in Maryland — have heard little to nothing at about it.

“I live in Largo and I know that the Silver Line will have an impact on my community,” says 65-year-old Yvonne Alston. “And I just wanted to see exactly when it was opening and exactly where it would go.” ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://transportationnation.org/2013/03/13/wmata-holds-open-house-on-coming-silver-line/