On Tuesday, Loudoun County supervisors will make one of the most important decisions of their careers by voting to either “opt in” or “opt out” of Dulles Rail, Phase 2. Supervisors are under intense political pressure to opt in, even though doing so means yoking their constituents for decades to a terribly flawed transit project that does not meet basic public standards in a number of key areas:

Accountability: The secretive Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board managing the Silver Line project does not answer to any elected officials in Virginia or Washington and still refuses to seat two new board members appointed by Virginia’s governor.