A burgeoning local movement to push state and federal government to reconsider the Tysons tunnel has not swayed skeptics, who worry the plan to burrow Metrorail under the urban area will jeopardize hundreds of millions in federal dollars now committed to the rail project.
The pro-tunnel movement is undoubtedly picking up political steam, however, thanks to a well-funded effort by the Greater McLean Chamber of Commerce. The chamber, organized under the banner of TysonsTunnel.org, won the support of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Monday thought the board stipulated that federal funds should not be risked, no matter what the outcome.
Despite the backing of the most powerful local government in Virginia, Tysonstunnel.org faces an uphill battle to include the tunnel in the 23-mile, $4 billion Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project.
“I haven’t felt that the loss of federal funding has been adequately addressed” by tunnel supporters, said Patricia Nicoson, president of the Dulles Corridor Rail Association, a group boosting the rail project.
Tysonstunnel.org argues that putting the entire project out to bid could draw down costs and make the tunnel more viable.
The debate comes months after Gov. Tim Kaine abandoned the proposal to run the metro line underneath Tysons. Though overwhelmingly more popular, the tunnel plan was more expensive and more time consuming and therefore, Federal Transit Administration officials warned, might not meet their cost-benefit standards and be eligible for the $900 million federal contribution. Negotiations are now under way to approve a version of the project with a mostly above-ground track through Tysons.
Dave Edwards, a vice president of the Committee for Dulles, said “the costs, the uncertainties,” of the tunnel proposal make it unfeasible.
“I wish it could happen, but I’m afraid it won’t,” he said. “Maybe by some miracle, the numbers would come out right, but it just doesn’t seem likely.”
