Metro To "Dulles" To Be Approved?

It is being widely reported that rail to Dulles will get its Federal stamp of approval in the coming days.

Federal transportation officials are planning to approve the proposed 23-mile extension of Metrorail to Dulles International Airport in a letter to Congress today, the officials told local and state authorities yesterday.

Several officials with knowledge of the decision said the $5 billion project had finally met the Federal Transit Administration's standards for cost efficiency, construction and expected ridership. The approval would reverse an opinion from the FTA issued in January that said rail to Dulles did not meet the criteria. - LoudounExtra

Indications are that this reversal was the result of intensive lobbying and negotiations on the part of Governor Kaine and his administration as well as other officials. It will be interesting to see how the final package is structured, and whether new hurdles might emerge.

But hurdles still remain, none of which the Washington Post article mentions. First is the lawsuit, now before the state Supreme Court, disputing the legal right of the Kaine administration to transfer the Dulles Toll Road to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Toll road revenues are another critical component of the Rail-to-Dulles funding package. A Supreme Court ruling in May could either clear the way for the project or drive a stake through its heart.

The second hurdle centers on the special tax district in Fairfax County, which would raise tax revenues from commercial property owners along the rail route. I invite someone better informed than me to provide correction or elaboration, but, as I understand it, the authorization for creating that tax district has expired. Whether renewing that authorization is a pro forma matter or one that could erupt again into political controversy and drag out the project time-line is a question I cannot answer. - Bacon's Rebellion

Reactions to this announcement around the blogosphere have been mixed, with questions raised as to what deals had to be cut to make this happen and whether the basic questions about above vs. below-ground and non-competitive bidding have been answered.

Another interesting factor in all of this is a fact that is going under-reported, but is of considerable import to Loudoun: This project will only bring rail to Reston. For $900 million in Federal money, decades of planning and promises, speculative development based on proposed stations, and repeated harangues from community leaders Loudoun will get exactly nothing from this deal, except perhaps even more traffic.

I understand the value of rail, I have lived in New York and New Jersey as well as closer to DC here in northern Virginia. It's a critical aspect of a comprehensive transportation solution, but it is not something Loudoun should take into account in its planning, hoping and development. We're just not going to see it in time to make use of it.