Fairfax County wants Virginia officials to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to make the Dulles Rail extension’s Metro stations more accessible to walkers, bus riders and motorists.
The county needs about $200 million in improvements over the next six years around the five stops included in the rail’s initial 11.6-mile phase, supervisors plan to tell Virginia transportation officials at a hearing later this month.
The projects include creating a regional transportation management plan, redesigning Tysons Corner streets, improving access to the final Wiehle Avenue station in Reston and adding new Fairfax Connector buses.
The upgrades, officials say, will be integral to the overall mission of reducing traffic in the county’s most congested corridor by making it easier for more people to board the planned rail line.
County supervisors want the Commonwealth Transportation Board to include the improvements, as well as a host of other projects, in the state’s six-year plan for road spending.
“These projects are necessary to ensure that Tysons Corner, Reston and the Dulles Corridor can adapt to the added pedestrian and feeder bus requirements that are necessary to support the rail project,” a copy of the board’s testimony said.
But state funding shortfalls and the sudden loss of Northern Virginia road and rail revenue from a February Virginia Supreme Court ruling will make the six-year funds all the more competitive.
“Part of our problem right now is every time we turn around we find out that we’re losing more money,” said Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth, whose district encompasses part of Tysons Corner.
While the Metrorail extension is on course to receive $900 millionin federal funds that had threatened to trip up the project, money for the accompanying upgrades is far less certain. Some of the projects — like the transportation management plan — are already partially paid for.
“You put everything in the wish list, and then you sit back and see what you get,” Smyth said.
