The future of Metrorail in Loudoun is still uncertain – for now.
However, Loudoun government leaders on July 19 took one step closer to reaching an agreement with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority over how to lower the overall cost of Phase 2 of the Silver Line extension to its original $2.5 billion price tag.
In an 7-2 vote, Loudoun supervisors agreed to a mediated proposal from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood with several modifications. Included in those changes are that the $135 million cost of three parking garages the county is being asked to take on be financed through public-private options or backing from the state and federal government loans and that the Metro station at Dulles Airport be built above ground.
“This will allow me to go in and give an indication that we are leaning in the direction of support of this proposal, but we have certain conditions that we need to agree to and see from the other partners before I can sign a memorandum of understanding on behalf of the Board of Supervisors,” said Chairman Scott York (R-At Large).
Loudoun supervisors also are asking that the project’s other funding partners – MWAA, the state and Fairfax County – agree with LaHood’s proposal and that MWAA donate land for the Route 606 parking garage.
MWAA’s Board of Directors are expected to meet July 20 to make a final decision on the mediated agreement.
York, along with Fairfax County and MWAA officials and U.S. Reps. Gerald E. Connolly (D-11th) and Frank Wolf (R-10th), spent 30 days last month in a series of meeting with LaHood trying to iron out the details of a compromise to ensure that Metrorail extends to Dulles Airport and beyond.
Still, despite the negotiations, some Loudoun supervisors said July 19 they believe the county will end up paying more for Metrorail in spite of leaders’ best efforts to secure outside funding for the parking garages.
“We do not have the debt capacity to take on $135 million for these garages,” said Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge), who along with Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) cast the dissenting votes.
“We’re right up against the limits trying to keep up with building schools and to take on any more debt is too me a risky thing to do,” Burton said.
Tension between MWAA and the project’s funding partners arose in March when MWAA’s Board of Directors voted to go with a pricer underground station at Dulles Airport. Loudoun and Fairfax County supervisors had endorsed an above-ground station that would have cost $562 million less to construct, according to new analysis by the Federal Department of Transportation.
MWAA officials in endorsing the underground station had originally said the station would cost more than $300 million more to construct.
The station has been a sticking point for most Loudoun and Fairfax County supervisors in why they don’t support the project’s overall cost.
“The underground station is not worth a half a billion dollars, especially when the people paying for it are Loudoun and Fairfax residents and the toll road users. It’s not worth it,” said Supervisor Andrea McGimsey (D-Potomac).
Under the terms of a 2007 financing agreement, Loudoun County already is paying 4.8 percent of the total project; Fairfax County is responsible for 16.1 percent and the airports authority will pay 4.1 percent. The other 75 percent was to come from federal and state funding, as well as Dulles Toll Road revenues.
MWAA officials have said the price for a one-way trip on the Dulles Toll Road reach as high as $10.75 by 2020 to pay for the Metrorail extension.
The cost of the underground airport station coupled with the project’s overall rising price tag, which ballooned $1 billion over the original $2.5 billion estimate, has Loudoun supervisors in talks over whether to opt out of funding the Metrorail extension.
McGimsey said she’s hopeful that the project’s funding partners can broker a deal to lower its costs and keep Metrorail’s extension into Loudoun moving forward.
Otherwise, she said, eastern Loudoun, already fighting gridlock during rush hour, could be faced with an even bigger traffic nightmare.
“Time is money. Being able to get home to your family at night counts. Our communities are stuck behind the airport. The airport is a gigantic blob that you can not drive through for eight miles. We need transportation options in this corridor,” McGimsey said.
Should Loudoun decided to opt-out, the rail would stop at Dulles Airport rather than continuing to stops in at Routes 606 and 772.
Supervisors have 90 days from the time they receive the final engineering plan for Phase 2 of the extension to opt out.
MWAA’s Board of Directors have asked Loudoun to forgo the opt-out option, but supervisors said July 19 they were not comfortable with that scenario.
Most Loudoun supervisors have said throughout negotiations that opting out is an absolute last resort, however, Delgaudio said July 19 he was ready to pull funding now.
“There is zero benefit. Zippo. No one is going to ride Metro [in Loudoun County]. It’s not going to relieve congestion and it’s going to be a boondoggle that’s saddling generations of taxpayers,” Delgaudio said. “… This is the worst bargaining I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Can’t afford Metro
The Loudoun bus is over crowded and the metro is going to have stops along the tech corridor. I doubt I would ride it into DC except for special events like say the 4th of July where it takes an hour to get out of the city, but it will be useful for travelers and for tech workers looking to stay off the toll road at rush hour.
Shawn, do you have any idea how many stations are going in between Dulles and Vienna? There is no express train. You are stopping at every station on your way to DC. It won’t be a short ride. It won’t be inexpensive.
Vienna to L’Enfant costs $5.20 each way now. Plus parking. Extend that distance to Dulles and it will be at least $10 each way, plus parking.
The Loudoun bus has free parking, and costs $16 round trip. What is wrong with that?
Not to mention that the escalators won’t work 3 months after the station opens.
Leesburg area to NW DC (Georgetown) in 1 hour 15 min routinely IF you can use 66. if you can’t good luck making that time.
either way, glad to see Mr Burton and Eugene showing some common sense on this one. Lets add MORE DEBT!!
Loudoun Resident; your crazy I have picked up so many people from East Falls Church for years, when the second part is finished I will just have to go .5 miles to the metro stop.
Beyond that most of my neighbors work in Herndon, Reston, and Tysons; if you work during rush hours this will be a great alternative to sitting on the toll road for an hour to go a couple of miles.
They need to expand loudoun county parkway to make this feasible in the long term.
@MetroHasToGo: Are you saying that folks riding the Metro now would just disappear if the Metro didn’t exist? 66 and 50 would be WORSE in the absence of Metro, since those 10,000s of commuters would need to be hitting the roads. I’m not even going to go into how DC would be tied up if Metro disappeared.
Likewise, there might be a tieup along LCP and Waxpool to get to the Metro, but those are cars that won’t be on 7, 267, etc., in Fairfax/Arlington/DC causing further traffic tieups. Because, you know, that’s where the cars now causing traffic on the LCP and Waxpool are going.
@Frank, I’m going to have to declare shenanigans on your claim of Ashburn to NW DC in an hour, unless you can use I-66 inside the Beltway and live within 5 minutes of the Greenway. You can get from Vienna to New Carrolton on the Orange Line in an hour, according to Metro’s timetables.
It took me 30 minutes to get from Vienna to Crystal City (and I was able to use I-66 inside the Beltway) in a previous life, and 35 minutes to get from Vienna to Leesburg (and that was using the Greenway, if I didn’t use the Greenway it was nearly 45.)
The entire Metrorail project to Dulles is a pipedream come true for politicians. The debate of “above ground” versus “underground” is in vain. No traveler, either coming or going from the DC area is going to take the Metrorail before or after a 13-hour flight from Europe or Asia with 2 kids, 8 bags of luggage when a taxi is available. Let us wake up! Being from New York City, and a frequent traveler, I have never nor would I even take the “Train to the Plane,” as they named the Metrorail service from NYC to JFK. It just does not make traveling sense. People traveling to DC on business are taking the taxi; people traveling to DC for pleasure are taking the taxi. Only your diehard backpackers, students, and of course, our European neighbors, where Metrorail IS the norm, will be using this service. Save the dollars, build the less expensive station above ground, and invest the savings in improving the transportation services in Loudoun County for the people who live here.
This whole deal stinks and will be one of the reasons Tim Kaine will go down in his US Senate race. Scott York better get on the right side of this if he wants to run as an R, because this is a deal that will sink him and the whole R party, will be blamed for election cycles into the future—the 2007 agreement was signed by the Republican board…and renegotiated by YORK.
Don’t do it, it is a big government, money pit that HURTS us for decades. Burton got this one right. Don’t give in to the big spenders, please Mr. York! Opt out, and we will see what a good deal we can work, or even if all those millions of dollars should be better used on our own roads?
Does McGimsey commute to a job inside the Beltway?
Has she taken Metro lately?
Even with traffic, I can drive from Ashburn to NW DC faster than it will take with Metro, if you consider how long it is going to take to 1)Drive to Metro 2)Park 3)Wait for a train 4)Stop at EVERY station between Dulles and DC and then get off and walk to your office. God forbid if you have to switch lines to get to your office.
If you want mass transit you can already take the bus which is plenty convenient and cost effective if you have a gas guzzler. My car gets good mpg, so it is a bit cheaper to drive still.
Looks like Burton is the only one with his head screwed on right after today’s votes.
Wow, they were just on a roll today with horrible decisions.
More congestion around Leesburg. Higher burden on tax payers for building some parking garages MWAA should pay for.
Vote them all out. No incumbents survive.
@Sam, I would definitely like to see the numbers you are looking at or smoke whatever you are smoking. A real bargain at almost any price? Really? Has the Metro reduced the congestion any on 66? Or even in DC? Loudoun County Parkway and Waxpool are already a mess during rush hour, add on people trying to get to the metro and its gridlock 24/7; because its not like we have a way to get to the metro without driving to a park’n'ride. The only way I see justifying this mess is reducing its costs, not by throwing more money at it. MWAA pushed the price up with its insistance on using Union only contractors. Let them foot the bill, oh wait, they’ll just raise the tolls, oh wait, they’re going to raise the tolls anyway. Thanks but no thanks. Metro will do nothing for Loudoun except make it too expensive to take the toll roads further congesting route 7.
Wow.. Thanks for sharing the information.
Metro will offset the need for so many road projects and capacity expansion in the future that it’s a real bargain at almost any price. Build it!
If the supervisors kill Metro for Loudoun they are looking at very shortened terms of office.
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