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Fuel prices may be catalyst for extending Metro to Dulles

Higher gas prices could boost chances for extending Metrorail to Dulles

Date published: 6/22/2008

THE WASHINGTON Metro is once again aiming for Dulles International Airport. The project has been off and on track for 44 years, and the need has never been greater.

The airport is short on public transportation, and so are the places in between. Herndon has been wanting Metrorail for years, and Tysons Corner, designed for road access only, is plainly not equipped for the new era of increased public transportation use.

A year ago, the Metro extension to Dulles appeared to have everything going for it. Local funding was available from the state, the counties and Dulles Toll Road revenues. The Federal Transit Administration had approved the environmental impact statement.

The only thing missing was the federal share of construction funding, which was less than 25 percent of the cost but still a large amount because the whole project would cost $3 billion. The federal share for Dulles rail looked certain after the project's costs were reduced, notably by planning to put the line aboveground, rather than in a tunnel, through Tysons Corner.

In January of this year, the Federal Transit Administration pulled the rug out by announcing that the project did not qualify for federal assistance after all. The toll road revenues might be overestimated, said the feds; the bonds for the project created too much debt; the Airports Authority might not be able to manage the project; the Washington Metro wasn't doing a good enough job maintaining its existing system and fleet of trains; and, from the Washington side of the Potomac, the whole thing didn't look like such a hot idea after all.

The Federal Transit Administration's moving goalposts are not unique to the Dulles rail project.

Winning FTA approval for Norfolk's light rail line required many changes from the original concept of the project, according to Randy Wright of Hampton Roads Transit.

The FTA considers cost per rider, cost per mile, and other measures, but the standards keep changing, he said. But Norfolk did not give up, and two years from now Norfolk residents, commuters and visitors should be riding light rail: The project received a full funding grant agreement from the FTA in February 2007, and groundbreaking took place in December.

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Date published: 6/22/2008