Surprise: Arrival of Infrastructure Giant May Actually Mean New Infrastructure for Reston

When infrastructure behemoth Bechtel announced it was moving 625 jobs from Maryland to Reston late last year, we "joked" that this could mean some serious infrastructure improvements around Reston -- stuff like 60-story dams and 14-lane motorways and whatnot. But it turns out we actually will get some goodies, in the form of a state grant used to help lure Bechtel to our beige community.

Fairfax County will get an $1.5 million grant from the commonwealth to be used towards transportation upgrades as Metro's Wiehle Avenue station prepares to open in Reston in 2013.

The Governor's Opportunity Fund (GOF) is offering the grant to the county as part of the incentives to get Bechtel Corporation to move from Frederick, MD to Reston.

Most significantly, the grant will help fund the initial study for the much-needed Soapstone Drive bridge across the Toll Road. The $1.5 million grant also includes $150,000 for a Reston Transit Center trail and a sizable chunk of change to finish the engineering marvel of 2012, the Wiehle Avenue sidewalk extension. So start telling your children that some day soon, they will be able to fulfill the age-old Reston dream of walking from Baron Cameron Avenue to Hunters Woods Plaza without their bootheels ever touching dirt, the end.