The Federal Transit Administration has signed an agreement to fund the first leg of Metrorail to Washington Dulles International Airport, a major milestone in the project’s rocky journey despite remaining questions over financing.
The signature of the “full funding grant agreement” represents the latest — and potentially most important — step in a line of federal approvals still ahead of the 11.6-mile extension of rail in Northern Virginia.
The FTA earlier this year had threatened to withhold a critical $900 million in funding because the project was too expensive and uncertain to pass federal muster, only to reverse course in April.
A senior U.S. Department of Transportation official cautioned Wednesday that the FTA has not sent the signed grant agreement to the next two federal agencies that must approve it because of an outstanding question over how the project will be financed.
The DOT officials said that federal regulators, because of the project’s history of cost and schedule slippages and the shaky economic climate, want reassurance that project managers will be able to sell the bonds necessary to fund the rail.
Alongside federal dollars, the project is paid for through Dulles Toll Road revenue and a local tax district.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and the Office of Management and Budget must approve the agreement before it heads to Congress for a review.
Still, the FTA signature signals that Dulles Rail has fulfilled the statutory requirements for approval, and was widely hailed by supporters Wednesday.
“It’s very good news, I was expecting it,” said Metro board member Jeff McKay, also a Fairfax County supervisor. “It’s not really a surprise to me that we got this. It puts to rest a lot of concerns that people have about the status and what’s going to happen.”
When fully built, Dulles rail will run 23 miles from just past the East Falls Church Metro station to beyond Dulles Airport, with four stations in Tysons Corner.
