Leaders poised to sign Dulles Rail funding for construction to begin
By: William C. Flook
Examiner Staff Writer
March 9, 2009
Virginia and federal officials are slated to sign a $900 million funding agreement today that will allow full construction to begin on the Dulles Metrorail Project, officially ending a once bitter feud that threatened to sink the transit project.
The signing comes at the end of a protracted political struggle during which the project once appeared dead. In January 2008, then-Federal Transit Administration head James Simpson announced that the rail line was too costly, too inefficient and too flawed to receive key federal dollars. The federal government relented after months of cost cutting and political pressure from Virginia congressmen and Gov. Tim Kaine.
The signatures by Kaine, Metro officials and U.S. Department of Transportation officials will allow construction to move forward later this month on the rail’s initial 11.6-mile, $2.6 billion leg. Early utility work has been under way for months.
The track will run past the East Falls Church Metro station, through Tysons Corner and into Reston by 2013. Eventually, the rail will run 23 miles through Washington Dulles International Airport and into Loudoun County.
The Metrorail extension, said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., “will make a big difference” in solving Northern Virginia’s traffic mess, especially in the Dulles Corridor.
“It’s a very momentous thing,” added Wolf, a longtime project advocate who was instrumental in securing its funding. “The gridlock that we have in Northern Virginia is just unbelievable. It just goes on and on and on.”
Skeptics have questioned the rail’s capability to pull motorists off the roads, especially when it’s accompanied by massive new development in Tysons Corner. Fairfax County plans to let developers vastly expand the amount of office, retail and residential construction within walking distance of Tysons’ four planned rail stops. Community groups worry the growth that will inevitably follow the new rail line will clog local roads and overwhelm local services.
Federal transit officials had originally threatened to bar the $900 million because Dulles Rail would not serve enough riders to justify its price tag. Simpson had also voiced concern with spats between Metro and the project’s manager, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, as well as with Metro’s extensive maintenance backlog.
Funding breakdown
Dulles Rail’s first 11.6-mile phase is expected to cost $2.6 billion. That money comes from:
Fairfax County special commercial tax district: $400 million (capped)
Federal Transit Administration grants: $900 million (capped)
Dulles Toll Road proceeds: About $1.3 billion (uncapped)
