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Rush-hour commuters wait to ride Metrorail in Washington. Expansion to the Fredericksburg area isn't in the cards. |
By KELLY HANNON
Extending Metrorail to the Fredericksburg area would cost $4.3 billion, four times the $1 billion cost of building High Occupancy Toll lanes along Interstate 95.
For the extra money, Metro could carry 9,600 people an hour, versus 6,000 people an hour in HOT lanes on I-95.
But the Fredericksburg area is not expected to have the population, housing, and employment density needed to support heavy rail, like Metro, by 2035.
"We're not ready," said Lloyd Robinson, director of transportation planning for the George Washington Regional Commission.
A regional group, the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, asked the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation for a cost analysis of rail options.
Occasionally, Fredericksburg-area residents suggest extending Metrorail south along I-95 instead of building new High Occupancy Vehicle and toll lanes through a proposed public-private partnership, Robinson said.
FAMPO thought it should do an analysis to answer the questions, he said.
The results were presented Monday night to FAMPO's board, a group of elected officials and administrators from Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania.
A heavy rail system could cost $60 million to $250 million per mile to build, according to state transit standards.
And heavy rail would be expensive to run once it's built. Metro requires $15 million a year from counties, and about $500,000 from cities.
Light rail costs slightly less: $50 to $150 million per mile to build, and it would carry about 2,160 people per hour. Building light rail to Fredericksburg would cost around $2.3 billion, according to the analysis.
By comparison, HOT lanes would add a third lane to I-95's two-lane HOV corridor from the Pentagon to Dumfries, and two new lanes from Dumfries to Spotsylvania.
It would be funded through $1 billion private investment with no local subsidy cost. Tolls raised from vehicles with one or two occupants would pay for maintenance and operation. Vehicles with three or more occupants could use the lanes for free.
Funding any new transportation projects in Virginia in the immediate future will be difficult.
Virginia expects to receive $2.6 billion less in transportation funds from 2009 to 2014. The state is collecting less money from sources of transportation funding: gas taxes, automobile sales, insurance taxes and real-estate recordation taxes. Last week, VDOT announced 450 of its workers will be laid off, and recommended closing 25 rest areas and cutting back on mowing and interstate maintenance.
Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436
Email: khannon@freelancestar.com
