Local officials responsible for building and funding the Metro Silver Line project to Washington Dulles International Airport and into Loudoun County are under federal pressure to bring costs down to about $3 billion. That’s still about $500 million more than the original $2.5 billion estimate, but about $500 million less than the $3.5 billion projection issued in April.
“Pretty much everyone agrees that the $2.5 billion was unrealistic,” said Fairfax County Chairwoman Sharon Bulova, D-at large, who this week briefed her board on the status of the funding. “If we can reduce our estimate to about $3 billion or less, that’ll be considered a success.”
Bulova has been involved in frequent meetings over the past month with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, members of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, and other top Northern Virginia officials. While the airports authority is responsible for overseeing the project, Fairfax and Loudoun county taxpayers and Dulles Toll Road users will fund it.
LaHood has made clear that each group must bring cost reductions to the table if they expect the project to become eligible for federal funding. He is scheduled to meet again with Northern Virginia officials Thursday.
Bulova said Fairfax and Loudoun are considering saving money by bringing in a private contractor to help build and then operate the parking garages at the new Metro stations.
But one of the most costly variables — the location of the Metro station at Dulles — rests in the hands of the airports authority. The authority wants to build an underground station, while Loudoun, Fairfax, state officials and others said an aboveground station was preferable because it would cost nearly $330 million less than the underground station. Authority members, however, are still insisting on the underground location.
“It’s kind of like the budget talks on [Capitol Hill],” airports authority board member and former U.S. Rep. Tom Davis said. “This will come to an end, but we don’t know yet how it will end.”
Davis said that every group involved, including his own board, will be forced to reconsider its priorities on the project to ensure that funding is secured.
“Until it’s over,” he said, “it’s all still in play.”
