Fairfax County supervisors are asking the state to further subsidize an extension of Metrorail to Dulles at a projected cost of about $4 billion.
The county has also included projects considered necessary for the road network around Fort Belvoir, which is slated to receive about 22,000 new military jobs by 2011. The relocation is expected to make an already bad traffic situation worse.
Also on the queue are upgraded interchanges, widening Route 7 and Route 29, and a measure to bolster public transportation on Richmond highway, among other projects.
The list of projects for fiscal 2008-2013, which will be put before a Virginia Department of Transportation hearing next month, address the county’s two most high-profile road andrail issues, as well as a number of other priorities.
Officials are not optimistic, however, that all of the proposals put forth by the county can be funded by the state, which is notoriously quarrelsome on approving new road funds and reached an impasse on transportation funding this year. The county will compete with the rest of Virginia for its share of the money.
“It is unlikely that those items are going to be funded unless the state comes up with another revenue source to fund them,” said Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerald Hyland.
For the current fiscal year’s six-year plan, the state approved $6.9 billion, which was $900 million less than the previous year.
Fairfax County’s request is geared more toward what the county needs than what will likely be funded by the commonwealth, said Fairfax County Department of Transportation Director Kathy Ichter.
“Given what I know about the currently available funds, I think many of the projects will not be able to be funded,” she said.
