A group supporting a Metrorail tunnel underneath Tysons Corner is preparing its next offensive.
Tysonstunnel.org is now seeking engineering companies to bid on the group’s version of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project — one that includes a tunnel linking the four planned stations in Tysons — in the hopes that state and airport officials will reconsider what they insist is a firm decision to build an aerial rail.
The less than four miles of track will be part of the first phase of a 23-mile extension of Metrorail from West Falls Church to Loudoun County. Gov. Tim Kaine killed the tunnel plan in September, saying added costs and delays commonly attributed to the tunnel approach could imperil $900 million in needed federal funds.
The commonwealth is not soliciting new bids for the project, and state transportation officials have tossed aside prior tunnel proposals.
“We’ve planned our resurgence; now we’re trying to execute it, to make it clear that we haven’t gone away and we’re not dead, that we’re trying to come back stronger,” Tysonstunnel.org President Scott Monett said.
Tysonstunnel.org spent millions to prepare engineering documents to prove a tunnel was feasible. At least one company, Siemens, has reportedly expressed interest in preparing a proposal based on those documents.
Tysonstunnel.org was dealt a blow in late March when Virginia officials announced an agreement with the two companies to complete the first 11.6-mile phase of the rail that includes the above-ground track. Bechtel and Washington Group appear on track to win a final contract to construct that phase, which is now expected to cost between $2.4 billion and $2.7 billion.
The pro-tunnel group has accused the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which will soon take over the project, and Virginia transportation officials of shrouding the rail extension of secrecy; hiding details from the public; and failing to ensure competition for the selected contractors, Bechtel Infrastructure and Washington Group International.
A Siemens representative could not be reached Thursday.
