Arlington Wins $80M In Funding for Ballston Metro Entrance Project

ARLINGTON, VA — The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority approved an $80 million grant request from Arlington County on Thursday to help pay for a proposed west entrance to the Ballston Metro station.

The funding was part of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority's latest six-year program. The Fiscal Years 2022-2027 Six Year Program funds regional multimodal transportation projects in Northern Virginia through regional revenues.

The program approved nearly $625 million in funding to 20 projects on Thursday.

This was the sixth time the authority has updated its six-year plan to prioritize and fund regional transportation projects. For the latest plan update, nine localities in Northern Virginia submitted 26 proposed projects totaling over $1.2 billion. The six-year program is updated every two years.

The $80 million for the new entrance at the Ballston Metro station follows previous funding from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority in 2016 to help cover the cost to develop designs for the second Metro entrance.

The new entrance would be located at N. Fairfax Drive and N. Vermont Street. The current entrance, at N. Fairfax Drive and N. Stuart Street, is located at the far eastern edge of the train platform, about a quarter-mile to the east of the proposed new entrance.

The new entrance will include stairs and two street-level elevators connecting to the fare payment area, an underground passageway, and a new mezzanine with stairs and elevators to the train platform. The new entrance will also have fare gates, fare vending machines and an attended kiosk.

According to Arlington County, the new entrance will provide more direct access to businesses and residences on the west side of Ballston, where high-density redevelopment with lower parking ratios is occurring.

The new entrance will also provide better access to or from the Metro station during emergency situations, and improve bus-to-Metro transfers for routes entering Ballston from Interstate 66, the county said.

The total cost estimate for the Ballston West Entrance project is $140 million, according to the county.

While the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority's main goal in prioritizing projects is addressing traffic congestion, part of that strategy is through funding multimodal projects. The six-year plan includes funding for transit, bike and pedestrian, and transportation technology projects, while most roadway projects also have a pedestrian and bicyclist component.

Through its latest six-year plan and five previous ones, the authority is helping Northern Virginia localities advance 122 regional multimodal transportation projects, totaling nearly $3.12 billion, for congestion reduction throughout the region.

The 20 projects included in the six-year plan are:

• Arlington County: Ballston-MU Metrorail Station West Entrance: $80,000,000
• Fairfax County: Fairfax County Parkway Widening: Nomes Court to Route 123: $108,000,000
• Fairfax County: 8 New Battery Electric Buses - Fairfax Connector Buses for Tysons to Franconia Service: $10,000,000
• Fairfax County: Richmond Highway Widening From Mt. Vernon Memorial Highway/Jeff Todd Way to Sherwood Hall Lane: $60,207,038
• Fairfax County: Richmond Highway (Route 1) BRT: $80,000,000
• Fairfax County: Soapstone Drive Extension: Sunset Hills Road to Sunrise Valley Drive: $73,793,037
• Fairfax County: Seven Corners Ring Road Improvements: Arlington Boulevard (Route 50)Westbound Ramp to Castle Place/Sleepy Hollow Road: $4,200,000 (request partially funded)
• Loudoun County: Route 7 Corridor ITS Implementation Program: $2,500,000
• Loudoun County: Route 7 Improvements: Route 9 to Dulles Greenway: $20,000,000
• Loudoun County: Ryan Road Widening (Phase 2): Evergreen Mills Road to Beaverdam Drive: $16,000,000
• Loudoun County: Loudoun County Parkway Interchange at US 50: $35,250,000
• Prince William County: University Boulevard Extension: Devlin Road to Wellington Road: $53,000,000
• Prince William County: Old Bridge Road Widening: Colby Drive to Minnieville Road: $25,000,000
• Prince William County: Van Buren Road North Extension: Route 234 to Cardinal Drive: $8,000,000 (request partially funded)
• Prince William County: Route 1 at Route 123 Interchange: $3,000,000 (request partially funded)
• City of Alexandria: West End Transitway Phase 1b: South Van Dorn Street and Bridge Design: $5,000,000
• City of Alexandria: Alexandria Bike and Pedestrian Trails Construction and Reconstruction: Holmes Run Trail - Dora Kelly Fair-weather Crossing Bridge: $5,000,000
• City of Falls Church: North Washington Street Multimodal Improvements Project: Great FallsStreet to Gresham Place: $22,500,000
• City of Manassas: Liberia Avenue 3rd Lane Eastbound: Route 28 to Euclid Avenue: $8,851,639
• Town of Herndon: Herndon Parkway Improvements at Worldgate Drive Extension: $4,581,000