Federal transportation officials unveiled a series of nearly insurmountable hurdles for the planned expansion of Metrorail to Dulles airport on Thursday that look all but certain to kill the project, calling the track far too expensive and uncertain to receive a crucial infusion of funding.
The Federal Transit Administration has rejected nearly all of Gov. Tim Kaine’s last-ditch cost cuts and harbors deep concerns over the ability of airport officials to manage the project and Metro’s ability to maintain it, according to FTA Administrator James Simpson.
Kaine, who said he was surprised by the additional qualms, told The Examiner he would respond by Monday.
At a news conference explaining the project’s dire situation, Simpson rolled out a staggeringly high new estimate for building the initial 11.6 miles of track from Falls Church to Wiehle Avenue in Reston: $3.5 billion. That figure, which includes financing and risk calculations, renders the track ineligible for $900 million in federal funding that numerous officials say will make or break Dulles Rail.
The two other funding sources, the Dulles Toll Road and a tax district in Tysons Corner, were designed to support a project that would cost $1.8 billion.
The agency maintains a strict criteria that forces all funded projects to serve enough riders to justify their cost. In that regard, Dulles Rail ranks as one of the most inefficient proposals under the FTA’s consideration.
“Our process is a very Darwinian process,” Simpson said. “We wish it was simple enough that we could just write a check.”
Apart from the cost-benefit crisis, Simpson detailed in a letter to Kaine three other problems that are likely to sink the rail extension.
The project’s progress is “dependent on many and complicated inter-organization management arrangements,” Simpson wrote. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the project manager, also “lacks experience with heavy rail construction” and Metro lacks a dedicated funding source to keep up service levels and repairs.
The Kaine administration, which slashed $300 million from the project last year, was confronted by “a number of issues that had not heretofore been part of the discussion,” the governor told The Examiner after a morning meeting with the FTA and members of Virginia’s congressional delegation.
Worse, Kaine said he and other officials were led to believe their cuts were accepted. Simpson disputed that he gave any such assurance or that any of the issues were new.
The FTA’s announcement drew cheers from those opposing Dulles Rail because of its unpopular aerial track over Tysons Corner or other reasons. It drew protest from those hoping to connect the District with Dulles, an international airport.
“We think that the FTA needs to find reasons to support this project, not reason to sidestep it or kill it through these constant delays or re-examinations,” said Jim Dinegar, president and chief executive of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. “It is the link to a world-class airport and a world-class city, it is the opportunity for economic development, access to affordable housing, access to more opportunity.”
