U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood on Wednesday gave local officials 30 days to agree on estimates for what it will cost to finish building the Metrorail line to Washington Dulles International Airport and into Loudoun County. LaHood is trying to broker a deal between the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is overseeing the project, and state and local officials, who must pay for it and who are claiming that the authority is driving up the rail line’s costs beyond what they can afford.
The transportation secretary met privately with officials from Fairfax and Loudoun counties, the state, and the airports authority and asked them to return in a month with agreed-upon costs that could serve as a basis for further negotiations. Current estimates for the second phase of the project’s construction range from $2.5 billion to nearly $4 billion.
“We’ll be joined at the hip for the next 30 days,” said Sharon Bulova, chairwoman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
Chief among the disagreements is the placement of the Metro station at Dulles Airport. The underground station favored by the airports authority would cost about $330 million more than the aboveground station favored by local officials, who are paying for it.
But the station is only one of several components to the complicated funding outlook, said Scott York, chairman of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.
“I’m just really concerned that [the airports authority] doesn’t have a financially viable project,” he said.
Bulova called into question the authority’s hope for additional federal funding for the project.
“The secretary made the point very strongly that the federal government is not awash in money, and that we need to do our part first to bring costs down before considering any federal investment,” she said.
Members of the airports authority have softened their tone in recent days with regard to the underground station, hinting that a compromise may be necessary to bring down costs and quiet local officials’ complaints.
Authority Chairman Charles Snelling said Tuesday that “nothing is set in stone.” And Mame Reiley, a former airports authority chairwoman and ardent advocate for the underground station, said Wednesday that the monthlong discussion will include “all options.”
Overall, LaHood betrayed no sympathies with the airports board or the local officials, according to people in the meeting.
“The indication was that we’ve all got to see what the project is, and what the costs will be before moving forward,” York said.
