On Thursday, Tysons Corner Doomsday Clock had a meager six days left, counting down the short time until the fate of the area — and its rail line — was utterly sealed. “Doomsday,” in the minds of proponents of building a Metrorail tunnel underneath Tysons, represented the impending agreement between the state and contractors for a rail extension with an aerial track through the urban center.
A day later, the state announced the completion of the agreement and the Doomsday Clock promptly disappeared from the Tysonstunnel.org Web site. And though the apparent end times came and went, the group’s president says the fight still is not over.
The contract to build the first phase of the track, however, represents a clear setback for the movement. Tunnel supporters have aggravated state transportation officials for months with calls to bring back the plan after Gov. Tim Kaine killed it in September for fear that delays and cost overruns would put $900 million in federal funds in jeopardy.
“Obviously, it’s more difficult,” Tysonstunnel.org President Scott Monett said.
Monett now turns pressure on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, which could, conceivably, withhold its local pot of funds to pay for the rail. But the board has not been willing to commit that far, though it repeatedly has urged another look at burrowing under Tysons Corner.
“The good news is this is a milestone for the project,” Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald Connolly said of the state’s agreement with contractors to build the first phase of the rail. “But the not so good news is I think it makes the efforts we’re engaging in to have a fair and open look at a tunnel a steeper climb.”
