Metro map getting a makeover | Debating new Metro station names
So what’s in a name? A lot it seems, especially when it comes to naming a new Metro station. Fairfax officials on Tuesday approved monikers for its Metro stations on the rail extension to Dulles International Airport and Loudoun County.
But the Board of Supervisors’ decision came after a spirited debate, even after a comprehensive public input process that vetted dozens of names.
Final
names for the stations will require approval from the Metro board. Four stations in Tysons Corner and one in Reston are scheduled to open in late 2013. The rest of the line is tentatively slated to open by 2016 and will extend to Route 772 in Loudoun. The extension, which has been called the Silver Line although a final name has not been selected, will include 11 stations, with eight in Fairfax.
The debate Tuesday centered on naming a station in Herndon, now temporarily referred to as the Herndon-Monroe station. Its recommended name is Herndon-Reston West.
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Catherine M. Hudgins wanted to change the name to Reston-Herndon West, in an effort to recognize that many residents in the area live in or identify with Reston. Hudgins’s district includes Reston and some areas of Herndon. She is also chair of Metro’s board of directors.
“You can’t get into the parking lot [of the station] with out going into the area of Reston,” she said. “The travel pattern is oriented into the direction of the station.”
Dranesville District Supervisor John W. Foust said that Hudgins's proposed name reversal would only confuse riders. He proposed to just call it the Herndon Station.
“I think it’s the simplest for the travelers that are going to use it,” said Foust, whose district also includes Herndon. “This isn’t about 200 people that are going to be looking at it today. It’s about hundreds of thousands people who are going to be using it.”
Sharon Bulova, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said the recommended name of Herndon –Reston West was meant to serve as a compromise.
“Unfortunately we have dispute here,” she said. “I am not going to support the motion to make a switch,” she said.
Both of Hudgins’s and Foust’s motions to change the name failed. The recommended names are as follows:
Placeholder Name | Recommended Name |
Tysons East | Tysons-McLean |
Tysons Central 123 | Tysons I & II |
Tysons Central 7 | Tysons Central |
Tysons West | Tysons-Spring Hill Rd |
Wiehle Avenue | Reston-Wiehle Ave |
Reston Parkway | Reston Town Center |
Herndon-Monroe | Herndon-Reston West |
Route 28 | Herndon-Dulles East |
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