[ih] Why was MAE East located in Northern Virginia?

[Alexander Goldman]

I understand why 60 Hudson Street is important to the internet. As Hunter
Newby once said, "everything is where it is now because it was there then"
and 60 Hudson Street was the HQ of Western Union.

56 Marietta in Atlanta was also a Western Union building. Those buildings
were connected to the telegraph lines that crossed the nation on railroad
rights of way.

But why Ashburn, Loudoun, etc. in Northern Virginia? VOA says that America
Online made the investment
https://www.voanews.com/usa/all-about-america/heres-where-internet-actually-lives

Wikipedia says a bunch of ISP CEOs decided to interconnect there
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAE-East. Another article says NSFNET chose
it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_exchange_point#History

But I always assumed there was either government influence in the choice,
or that a railway line that I did not know about passed through there.

Does anyone know the answer?