The Dulles Metrorail Project will receive a $77 million infusion of stimulus cash, federal officials announced Thursday, speeding up work to connect Metro to the region’s only international airport.
The money from the $787 billion stimulus package will give the 23-mile rail extension’s first leg an early, upfront payment. While the money doesn’t increase the federal government’s $900 million commitment to Dulles Rail, it will shave between $10 million and $20 million in financing costs off the initial phase’s price tag.
Those savings will be used to speed up early engineering work for the second half of the project, which will carry the track to Washington Dulles International Airport and into Loudoun County, said Dulles Rail spokeswoman Marcia McAllister.
Construction on the first phase, running from Falls Church to Reston, is under way and slated to finish in 2013 at a price tag of $3.1 billion, including financing costs. The bulk of the project will be paid for through Dulles Toll Road revenue.
The announcement of the stimulus funds comes a week after Virginia Reps. Gerry Connolly and Jim Moran requested the money from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
“Given the challenges of financing large-scale transportation projects, this proposal should be lauded for maximizing the use of limited federal funding and seeking to use public funds to create new jobs, not simply incur more debt,” the Democrats wrote in a April 30 letter.
The third major Dulles Rail funding source is a Fairfax County special tax district on commercial real estate expected to raise $400 million. County supervisors resolved this week to ask a judge to validate that the tax district is legally sound. Two pending lawsuits seek to have the Tysons Corner tax district rejected.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is managing Dulles Rail, voted last month to seek out preliminary engineering plans for the second leg of the transit project. The authority has not resolved a looming question on creating a second-phase tax district, however, which would require convincing western Fairfax County landowners to tax themselves.
