From the September 2003 issue of New Urban News

TOD times five: How the subway revived a Virginia suburb

Arlington County's Rosslyn-Ballston corridor has sprouted nearly 18,000 dwellings and almost 14 million square feet of offices, thanks largely to commuter rail.

Philip Langdon

Transit-oriented development is paying off big in northern Virginia. A three-mile corridor in Arlington County, across the Potomac from the nation’s capital, boasts some of the most impressive development generated by any US rail transit system in the past 25 years.

The corridor running along Wilson Boulevard from Rosslyn to Ballston had slipped by the early 1960s. It was an aging, low-density commercial stretch that was beginning to lose population and retail business. Consequently, when planning got under way for the region’s Metro commuter rail system, Arlington County decided to place the rail line and five suburban stations beneath that corridor rather than in the center of Interstate 66 or on existing railroad tracks that would not be well-situated to support future commercial development. By making that choice, the county hoped to spur office, retail, and residential investment close to the stations, and hoped to bolster the surrounding neighborhoods.

The decision has proved to be a masterstroke. The corridor, which ranges from a third of a mile to a mile in width, has become “the economic engine of Arlington County,” according to James B. Snyder, supervisor of the county’s Planning Section. In December 1979 Metro opened its orange line serving the corridor. Nearly 18,000 houses and apartments, almost 14 million square feet of offices, approximately 1.5 million square feet of retail, and 1,218 hotel rooms have been built since January 1980 in the area served by the Rosslyn, Court House, Clarendon, Virginia Square, and Ballston stations.

“Things are compact and dense,” Snyder says. The corridor, containing 7.6 percent of the county’s land area, generates 33 percent of its property tax revenue. The jump in the value of the corridor’s real estate — now assessed at $9 billion — has helped Arlington obtain an AAA bond rating and set its property tax rate lower than that of any other major jurisdiction in northern Virginia.

During a tour organized by the Congress for New Urbanism and a subsequent discussion at CNU XI, analysts used Arlington’s experience to argue that commuter rail stations should not be placed in the centers of expressways or on old railroad rights-of-way that cannot serve as nodes of development. Nor should they be surrounded by park-and-ride lots — at least not when there are opportunities to use rail stations as catalysts for walkable, mixed-use development. Lisa Nisenson, an Arlington citizen activist who works for the US Environmental Protection Agency, says Salt Lake City and Dallas are two metropolitan areas that have followed the Rosslyn-Ballston example and made transit-oriented development an integral part of their commuter rail planning.
Rosslyn-Ballston apartments above retail fetch high rents.
Photos courtesy of McCaffery Interests
Rosslyn-Ballston now has more than 35,000 residents, or 20,000 per square mile. The number has grown by 5,000 since 2000, according to Christopher Zimmerman, a member of the Arlington County Board, the county’s governing body. The corridor has become a major employment center, concentrating more than 73,000 jobs within a third of a mile of the stations. Ten percent of homeowners and 20 percent of renters do not own a vehicle.

Obstacles in Alexandria

In the neighboring city of Alexandria, the Metro system runs on a rail line that existed long before the region started building a subway. Using the old right-of-way cost less but has proved to be far from ideal. The location of the King Street Metro station has resulted in “a troublesome pedestrian connection” to the 75-acre Carlyle development, says former City Architect Al Cox. A parking lot separates the station from King Street itself. Nearby Duke Street is such a high-volume artery for automotive traffic that a tunnel will have to be constructed so that thousands of expected transit riders can walk to their jobs at the US Patent and Trade Office and other offices in Carlyle.

Carlyle possesses many new urbanist traits, such as a relatively pedestrian-friendly street grid and a series of public spaces intended to serve the occupants of its 4 million square feet of offices and the residents of its 1,500 housing units. But with two-thirds of the development already built or under construction, Carlyle struck CNU tour-goers as lifeless by comparison to the better sections of Rosslyn-Ballston — perhaps in part because mass transit is not at Carlyle’s center.

It’s ironic that Alexandria, renowned for traditional urbanism because of the charm of gridded, rowhouse-abundant Old Town, is being outshone in some respects by Arlington, a much newer area that was laid out largely to accommodate an automobile-driving populace. But, Nisenson points out, “Planning is an art form and a religion in Arlington.” Extensive consultation among the county government, residents, and others has made it possible for Rosslyn-Ballston to develop increasingly integrated and dense uses. Apartments sit on top of retail complexes. Townhouses achieve densities as high as 30 to 40 units an acre.

“A lot of people are willing to pay high rents” for high-quality urban living, Snyder observes. “That’s a big change.” As the number of residents continues to grow, the proportion relying on rail, bus, bicycles, and walking rather than automobiles is expected to continue climbing. Dennis Leach of TransManagement, a transportation management-consulting firm, says that compared to spread-out suburban growth, “it sure looks like this is a more efficient way to develop.”