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Dulles rail gains FTA approval
Dulles rail took a big step closer to reality Dec. 3 when the Federal Transit Administration recommended funding the Metro extension. Before the $2.6 billion project gets an essential $900 million in federal funding, it also must be approved by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters and the Office of Management and Budget, and undergo a 60-day review by Congress.
"This is another step," project spokeswoman Marcia McAllister said. “We're continuing to work with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Office of Management and Budget to get this project approved.”
The FTA approval comes less than a year after agency officials voiced serious reservations about cost overruns, nearly killing the project. In a Jan. 28 letter, FTA administrator James Simpson said the agency could not approve it as it was because of serious questions about its cost controls and state financing mechanisms.
“We had too many questions about the toll road revenue and the capacity of the toll road. My staff was not comfortable enough that the project could be built,” Simpson said in May, when the agency reversed itself and moved the project into final design.
Now, after overcoming one potential threat after another, federal funding for the first phase of the rail project seems all but certain. Utility relocation in Tysons Corner is ongoing, and work to build a short tunnel near International Drive is expected to begin before Christmas.
Unless there are unforeseen holdups, construction is expected to begin in early March. The Tysons Corner stations and the first Reston station, at Weihle Avenue, are expected to open by 2013.
“I am well aware of the effort that has gone into literally keeping this project on track and appreciate everything that has been done to date and look forward to riding Metro to the airport with my grandchildren in the near future,” said U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10th), a longtime advocate for the project who has helped get $250 million in federal dollars for the early work.
While elected officials in Fairfax County are cheering this progress, it's still uncertain when the rail line will reach its ultimate destinations of Washington Dulles International Airport and eastern Loudoun County.
Airports authority officials have said they will not begin work on the second phase of the rail extension until federal funding for the first phase is approved.
Until more substantive engineering work for the second phase is completed, it is impossible to accurately estimate a cost or construction timeline for the second phase, McAllister said.
Contact the reporter at kschumitz@timespapers.com
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