Photo by MoHotta18 on Flickr.

A few days ago, it was reported that the MWAA was considering moving the proposed Metro station at Dulles Airport. The relocated station would be elevated and 600 feet further from the terminal.

It is important that the station be located close to the terminal. But I would like to propose an improvement above the underground station originally proposed in the Final Environmental Impact Statement.

The scheme I propose places the station platforms directly across the service roads from the terminal building. The station platforms would be located on different levels, with the outbound track on the departure level and the inbound track on the arrival level.

West-facing cross-section of my proposal.

Passengers arriving or departing by Metro would have to cross the terminal drop-off/pick-up roadways, but would do so at signalized crosswalks. This arrangement would allow the majority of arriving Metro patrons to directly enter the ticketing hall, as those arriving by car currently do. It would also allow most departing passengers to access their train directly from baggage claim.

The platform canopy would be 400’ long and would be a scaled down version of the Eero Saarinen designed main terminal building.

The Fare vending machines along with the station manager’s kiosk would be located in the terminal building adjacent to the door directly opposite platform entrance(s). There would also be kiosks on the platforms adjacent to the exit/add fare vendors. These would be located at the top of the short ramps up from the roadway to the platforms.

Plan view of my proposal.

The tracks descend to portals between the two roadways on either side of the parking lot in front of the terminal. Roughly 525’ into the tunnels the outbound tunnel passes over the inbound tunnel to return to right hand running. The portal along Autopilot Drive remains in the FEIS location. The portal to the east would be north of the Aviation Drive overpass.

The alignment around the curve would be in a shallow open cut hugging a wall along the roadway that exits the airport. The outside of the curve would have an embankment with the security fence at the at track level. The tracks in the cut would ascend to grade in the general area of the FEIS tunnel portal. The profile arrangement around the curve on the approach to the airport is to preserve to the “view shed” from the approaching roadway.

All of the tunnels in my scheme are shallow cut and cover tunnels. The reasoning behind the use of cut and cover tunnels is to keep the depth to a minimum which would reduce the cost of powering the train up the grades from the deeper bored tunnel. The shallow cut and cover tunnels will also place the tunnels above the water table, reducing the cost of the operation of ejector pumping stations.