Will Reston's Silver Line station areas be "transit-oriented" or merely "transit-adjacent"?

An article in Transport Politic highlights a new standard created by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) that measures the effectiveness and likely success of so-called transit-oriented development (TOD).  Here is an excerpt from the article by Yonah Freemark discussing the new standards:

. . . planners have invested decades of considerable work in the pursuit of transit-oriented development (TOD), under the presumption that clustering new housing, offices, and retail will result in rising transit use and, in turn, reduce pollution, cut down on congestion, and improve quality of life. There remains some controversy about the effectiveness of TOD investments in actually increasing transit ridership, but, at least in my mind, the success of certain areas over others has as much to do with the manner in which developments are designed as the mere fact that there is construction adjacent to a rail or bus station.

For example, the considerable success of Arlington, Virginia in attracting riders to the Washington Metro, as compared to Rosemont, Illinois’ interaction with the Chicago L, is likely due to the fact that the former prioritized walkable construction immediately adjacent to subway stations while the latter put the rail line in the median of a highway, separated buildings from the station by hundreds of feet, and minimized pedestrian amenities. Getting the design of new development around transit right is often just as important as the transit itself in terms of attracting ridership.  (Emphasis added.  Comment:  Oops!)

The point made in this excerpt highlights the importance of acquiring--and eventually developing--air rights over the Dulles Corridor.  That development would enable residents and workers to take a very few steps from their homes or offices before they entered the Metro station.  Silver Line passengers will have a 200 foot or more walk from the edge of the corridor--and beyond from a parking garage or bus stop--to the toll gates in the station before they can even descend to the railway's platform.  That is a recipe for TOD failure.  

Speaking of failure, the author applied the same metrics to several major commuter train line TOD areas and, among them, the plans for MetroWEST--the proposed development around the Vienna Metrorail station--ranked worst.

For the rest of this article, click here.