WASHINGTON — Alexandria has moved a step closer to building a $268 million dollar Metrorail station at Potomac Yard, the sprawling abandoned rail yard between Route 1 and the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
The City Council has held its final public hearing on the proposal before it votes on the matter next week.
Potomac Yard was once one of the largest rail freight yards on the East Coast but it’s been closed since 1989.
Supporters of the plan are pleased at the prospect of a new transportation connection on Metro’s Blue and Yellow lines. There’s wide expectation that the station will spur important economic development, and some supporters expect the Metro station will reduce traffic congestion in the area.
“It will also do the most to remove cars from the congested Route 1 corridor,” testified resident David Dixon, who expects the proposed station will increase Metro ridership.
Jennifer Hovis who lives in the nearby Potomac Greens neighborhood is delighted at the possibility of a Metro station near her home.
“Personally I see countless other benefits to the Potomac Yard Station: increasing home values in the surrounding neighborhoods; more rapid development of the vacant space in the yard.”
But the council has also heard residents’ concerns that the city is taking on too much debt with the project, and that the site chosen, which requires the National Park Service to provide an easement, will degrade the splendor of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
“The George Washington Memorial Parkway is the impetus for the entire historic district and by inference is responsible for Alexandria’s place on the tourist map,” says resident Paul Hertel.
Others oppose the plan because the city says it will partly finance construction by imposing an extra tax on residents who live near the station and stand the most to benefit.
Resident Katie Kennedy believes the city is taking on too much infrastructure debt to build the Metro station.
“Owing such a big debt will limit our ability to borrow for other things that will become necessary, another public school, another fire station, maybe even some more park land,” Kennedy says.
The council staff is recommending the station be built north of Potomac Greens between the George Washington Memorial Parkway and the CSXT railroad tracks.
The city council is scheduled to vote, Wednesday May 20. If the council gives the project the green light the Potomac Yard Metrorail station could open in 2018.
