n LOUDOUN
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VOL. 7, NO. 32
Pg. 10 | n EDUCATION
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Pg. 14 | n PUBLIC NOTICES
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JUNE 30, 2022
Loudoun Celebrates Independence Day The Town of Hillsboro, following tradition, kicked off Loudoun’s Independence Day events early with a party and fireworks Sunday night, but the celebrations— and fireworks—will continue through the weekend. FOR A LISTING 4TH OF JULY EVENTS TURN TO PAGE 39
Norman K. Styer/Loudoun Now
Silver Line Handed Over to Metro, Ready for Final Testing BY RENSS GREENE
rgreene@loudounnow.com
Metrorail’s Silver Line extension into Loudoun County hit one of its final milestones last week, as the six new rail stations, 11.4 miles of track and new rail yard were formally handed over to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ready for final testing. Before then, the long-delayed Silver Line Phase II project was in the hands of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which had agreed to build it. During a media availability after the
Thursday morning WMATA Board of Directors meeting, Interim General Manager and CEO Andy Off said the closest estimate Metro can give for when service will begin is late fall. Off said opening Silver Line Phase 2 is more complicated than the first phase thanks to the railyard. The last time Metro opened a new railyard, he pointed out, was more than 20 years ago, and noted the 90-acre size and 350 employees at the new railyard near Dulles International Airport. “There is a lot of movement. It is a dangerous place with a lot of employees and
a lot of train movement,” he said. “And there’s just a lot of unique equipment that we use to maintain our rail cars. So there’s just a certain degree of time and training.” And with construction enduring long delays—and commuting and working habits changed by two years of the COVID-19 pandemic—Board of Directors Chairman Paul Smedberg said he expects the system will be used differently today. “It’s not going to be the Monday-through-Friday, nine-to-five, everyone going to the core, you know, or in the District,” he said. “There are still people
that are going to do that maybe three or four days a week, but people are going to be using the system reverse commuting out. A lot of people who live in the district are now working out in Tysons, in Reston.” County Supervisor Matthew F. Letourneau (R-Dulles), a member of the Metro Board of Directors and the only current Loudoun supervisor who took part in the 2012 vote to bring Metro to Loudoun said the economic development vision for the SILVER LINE continues on page 38
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