With lanes shifting, turns closing down and ramps moving, in addition to daily scattered lane closures, drivers in Tysons Corner have seen a lot of changes, particularly along Route 7, since Metrorail construction started in the spring. More is yet to come.

Soon, service roads along Route 7 will be closed down permanently, as will any remaining mid-block left turns, Howard Menaker of Dulles Transit Partners told a crowd of Tysons Corner business owners and representatives at the group’s headquarters Monday afternoon, Oct. 26. Three such meetings took place that day, so they would be accessible to business people of varying schedules.

From Koon’s Chevrolet past Pike 7 Plaza, Route 7 is about to expand to make room for construction of rail down its median, Menaker said. Along the eastbound side, retaining walls will be used to raise areas now occupied by service roads to street level. "This work will begin very shortly, probably in the next few weeks," Menaker said, noting that the lanes would then be shifted late this year.

That work will run through the spring. Then, in the middle of next year, the stretch of road to the west will be expanded, past Tyco Road. In the fall of 2010, work will shift back east, to the westbound lanes near the SAIC building. "The good news is, it doesn’t happen all at once," Menaker said.

When construction is completed, Route 7 in Tysons Corner will have four lanes running in each direction, as opposed to the current three, with sidewalks on each side and elevated rail running down the middle.

Menaker said the lanes would all be in place by the end of next year or early 2011, although the final curb and gutter work would not be done until shortly before the project is completed in 2013.

ON ROUTE 123, foundations are already being laid for the Metro stations and elevated rail. There, the rail will run next to the northwest side of the road, "so the traffic impact is a lot less on 123," Menaker said. "Our work predominantly is to the side."

And on Oct. 12, workers began excavating the tunnel that will take trains under the interchange between Route 7 and Route 123. Sometime next week, construction is to begin on the Tysons East station, located next to Route 123 near the interchange with the Beltway. For the most part, the stations will all be built simultaneously.

Dulles Transit Partners spokesman Marcia McAllister said the agency was also launching programs to meet the condition for federal funding that it mitigate the transportation impacts of construction. An express bus line to and from Prince William County was recently put in place, and another will travel back and forth between Tysons Corner and Loudoun next year. On Nov. 23, the Tysons Connector will begin circulating in the area, with free buses running every 10 minutes from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. The lunchtime connector is to run until the rail project is completed, but McAllister said she hoped it would prove popular enough to stay in place afterward.

McAllister also said Dulles Transit Partners was making experts available to talk to businesses about telework, the Guaranteed Ride Home program and other options that could help reduce traffic.