Dulles Rail is one step closer to reality after the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted 7-2 on Tuesday to accept the funding proposal put forward by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.
LaHood’s proposal — released earler this month — aimed to bring agreement among Loudoun, Fairfax and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority over the scope and cost of the long-anticipated project. It requires Loudoun and Fairfax to assume millions of dollars in unanticipated costs, and for the airports authority to reverse their April decision to build an underground Metro station at Dulles Airport in favor of a less expensive aboveground station.
Loudoun’s board included several key contingencies along with their approval. Most notably, they required efforts be made by the county and federal government to ensure that LaHood’s compromise would not further burden county taxpayers.
The airports authority board will decide Wednesday morning whether it will move forward with LaHood’s proposal. A final meeting with LaHood and officials from Fairfax, Loudoun, the airports authority and the state of Virginia will be held at the U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday afternoon.
