Don’t be fooled by the Federal Transit Administration’s recent U-turn on the Dulles Rail project. It doesn’t change the flawed fundamentals of this $5 billion-plus mega-pork project, designed to benefit wealthy Tysons Corner landowners and their political allies at the expense of taxpayers and commuters. Dulles Rail will not reduce traffic in Northern Virginia, as the project’s own environmental studies attest. It will actually increase congestion in and around Tysons, thanks to higher densities approved by the Fairfax Board of Supervisors in connection with the project. It’s no exaggeration to say Tysons Corner will suffer perpetual gridlock once the Dulles Rail and its parallel developments are completed. Every tax dollar spent on Dulles Rail is a tax dollar that should have been used to reduce congestion on the Washington region’s roads.
Half of the $200 million in “cost reductions” the FTA cited to make the Dulles Rail project qualify for federal funding are no more than removing — for now — planned improvements to Route 7, whose median will be used for the concrete elevated tracks. But Route 7 is already at a virtual standstill even without any new construction or added density. These essential road improvements will be tacked on later when the project is past the point of no return, and they will be more expensive for the Fairfax County taxpayers now conveniently on the hook for the inevitable cost overruns. Indeed, the longer the project drags on, the higher the ultimate cost of completion will be, and it will be borne mostly by local taxpayers and commuters.
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Transportation Secretary Mary Peters has made clear that FTA’s disappointing flip-flop in just three months was the result of intense political pressure by Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine and Northern Virginia’s congressional delegation. Nothing has been done to remedy this project’s multiple fundamental flaws. On Wall Street, this is called putting lipstick on the pig. There’s still a no-bid contract with highly questionable provisions no honest lawyer would approve.
The contractor is still the same one responsible for exorbitant cost overruns and shoddy workmanship on Boston’s Big Dig. And the financing plan is still grossly unfair to Dulles Toll Road drivers who will be forced to pay the entire state share, while the share paid by wealthy Tysons landowners — who will profit handsomely on the new developments — is capped at $400 million.
One more thing: FTA cited “more specific toll road information” as the second major factor it considered for the project’s upgraded status. This can only mean one thing: Tolls will be even higher than anyone has publicly acknowledged. Why?
Because Gov. Kaine gave the toll road to the unelected, unaccountable Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which can raise tolls as high as it wants. Once again, the politicians, bureaucrats and corporate insiders get their way and the rest of us get to pay for it.
