A widely supported plan to build an extension of Metrorail in a tunnel underneath Tysons Corner died suddenly on Wednesday, a decision officials say was triggered by fears they would lose $900 million in federal funding for the project.
The announcement by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine brings to a close the largest debate within the $4 billion project to extend rail all the way to Dulles Airport. The governor announced a decision to instead pursue the far less popular, but cheaper, aboveground option — which would put an elevated track through heavily urbanized Tysons.
Kaine announced the abandonment of the tunnel option following a meeting with the Federal Transit Administration, in which the FTA seriously warned that choosing the more-expensive tunnel option would jeopardize the already-committed federal dollars, officials told The Examiner.
The concern is not new, however. Officials have long known the tunnel, which could cost $250 million more than the aboveground rail and take a year longer to build, could run afoul of strict federal cost-effectiveness standards.
“It’s difficult. I would much prefer underground rail at Tysons,” said Rep. Jim Moran, one of the officials who met in a closed-door meeting with the governor after the FTA meeting. “But there are some pragmatic funding and political realities that we have to face. I think the risk of losing federal money altogether for this project was just too high to take.”
The originally proposed above-ground track is expected to be far more disruptive to the community’s traffic, business and infrastructure, As a result, numerous federal, state and local leaders, community groups and landowners had rallied around the tunnel option. This summer,a panel of engineers convened by the governor declared the underground option to be feasible.
The decision has sparked widespread disappointment but grudging acceptance from Northern Virginia political leaders.
“The governor could not afford to [risk the project],” said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald Connolly. “This is the single most important transportation project we’ve got, and we must, must have rail in the Dulles Corridor.”
The aerial option is still viable, said Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall.
“And we’ve seen, for instance, the King Street station in Alexandria — that even with aboveground type of transit infrastructure, the area can still thrive business-wise and residentially,” he said.
