U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf is asking for an independent audit of the Dulles Rail project to prevent Big Dig-type price tag escalation and “ensure the project is built at the lowest cost possible.” The Virginia Republican wrote a letter on Tuesday to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is building the 23-mile rail line connecting the Metro system to Washington Dulles International Airport and beyond.
He said the project needs an independent set of eyes. If the authority doesn’t add one, he said he would ask the U.S. Department of Transportation’s inspector general to step in.
“I do not want the Dulles rail project to become Virginia’s version of the ‘Big Dig,’ ” he wrote, referring to a major tunnel and arterial project in Boston whose costs escalated from $2.6 billion to more than $22 billion.
In September, the airports authority had estimated the second phase extending the rail line to the airport and into Loudoun County would cost $3.83 billion, more than $1 billion over original estimates. The first phase, currently under construction and slated to open in 2013, is costing about $2.75 billion.
That brings the total to as much as $6.6 billion, whereas earlier estimates had put it closer to $5.2 billion.
Wolf said he worries that drivers on the Dulles Toll Road could end up shouldering too much of the cost. He estimated that it would take 10 years of tolls to pay off an underground airport station costing $640 million extra.
Wolf, whose district covers the rail line, is also worried that turnover at the top of the airports authority may lead to a “vacuum in leadership” as bids go out for the remainder of the project. The authority’s chief executive, James Bennett, stepped down earlier this year and the former chief financial officer who now heads the agency is planning to retire.
MWAA responded that it “has long intended” to include independent audit oversight.
“The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is committed to ensuring the cost control and financial oversight measures in place for the Metrorail project are effective and provide the essential fiscal prudence this significant project warrants and the community expects,” the authority said.
The rail line, informally dubbed the Silver Line, is slated to be finished in 2016. Authority officials are trying to work out the design of the second half, including whether the airport station should be underground or above. They hope to award contracts by the end of 2011, spokeswoman Tara Hamilton said.
