Fairfax Board Will Vote on Rail Line
The Fairfax County Board this afternoon decided not to delay a June 18 vote that will determine the fate of the Tysons rail project, despite concerns that it has not yet seen the contract for what will be one of the most expensive public works projects in U.S. history and one of the most important transportation programs for the future of Northern Virginia.
County government staffers, upon whom the board relies for much of its information about the project, had to sign confidentiality agreements limiting their discussions with the board members. A representative of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is in charge of the rail project that ultimately is supposed to reach Dulles Airport at a cost now estimated at $5 billion, said the the contract cannot be made public until it is complete.
He said he hoped to have copies for the board members by Friday.
Many board members expressed frustration with the lack of specifics regarding the financing and design of the project, which in its first phase will bring Metrorail through Tysons Corner and west to Wiehle Avenue. Supervisor Dana Kauffman proposed that the board delay the crucial vote scheduled for June 18 and instead use that session for a public hearing on the details of the contract.
The motion was rejected by a wide margin, although board members continued to stress that they -- and the county residents who will finance part of the project -- must be able to see what the board is voting on.
The board and an audience of several hundred, many of them supports of tunneling the line through Tysons rather than building an elevated track, first heard the county staff preview the construction program and its impact on traffic, which will be substantial. The work could become evident to commuters as early as September, when the utilities along Routes 7 and 123 are scheduled to be dug up. Then, Route 7 will be converted from three travel lanes to four, eliminating the service roads.
There's a budget of $25 million for traffic mitigation during the project, but given that 100,000 workers must reach Tysons each day, that's probably not enough.
Then the board began a question and answer session with staff and representatives of the airports authority, including MWAA general counsel Edward Fagan. The board members seemed taken aback when Fagan said the contract for the rail project, which many regard as crucial to the county's future, still is not 100 percent complete. If the board gets a look at it by the end of Friday, that will leave five business days for its members to review it before the board votes to sign off on the deal on June 18.
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June 4, 2007; 3:24 PM ET
Transportation Politics
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Posted by: Falls church, VA | June 4, 2007 4:18 PM
The above ground track plan is a mistake. There's no point in doing this project wrong, it will be here after most of us are gone. The overall design is quite bad.
Perhaps two stops for Tyson's would have been a better plan, leaving the county to come up with a more creative solution for how to get people around Tyson's without cars, something very lightweight perhaps.
As it stands, they are mortgaging our future on a design that will have to be redone.
Posted by: Static Vars | June 4, 2007 4:40 PM
The federal rule that federal money cannot be used unless the project is the overall cheapest plan is a stupid rule. If the federal share is to be capped at $900 million, and if Virginia wants to foot the extra cost of the tunnel on its own, then the feds shouldn't care. The American way of cutting corners and going on the cheap wherever possible doesn't always make sense--it makes more sense to spend the extra money to do a job correctly (for example, fix a pothole so that the repair will last instead of putting a steel plate over it).
I don't think the idea of Metro to Dulles makes sense, but if they're going to do it, they ought to do it right, and a tunnel through Tysons makes a lot more sense than an elevated line that will be an eyesore, potentially noisy, and subject to the same weather problems that plague the rest of the system.
Posted by: Rich | June 4, 2007 4:50 PM
I do competitive procurements for a living no corporation in their right mind would ever provide funding for a project without knowing what they are getting into. If you want to build something make sure you have a contract and always use a shortlist of 2 bidders before you sign to continue with just one. Do it right the first time. Don't do the Springfield Mixing Bowl again (get to the same point as you started without only years of construction to show for it) think more than a few years out.
Posted by: Fairfax | June 4, 2007 5:17 PM
This is just absurd. 5 days to review a complex contract that spends 5 Billion dollars? Not meaningful oversight.
Posted by: Lee | June 4, 2007 8:31 PM
They should just bypass Tysons altogether. The rail is for Dulles, not cry baby Tysons.
Posted by: Anonymous | June 4, 2007 9:08 PM
There's not much point to putting the rail through Tysons under ground unless you also get rid of all the elevated highway ramps and overpasses. The elevated rail line is much less noisy than the highway bridges like at 123 & 7 - and the Beltway HOT project proposes to add a lot more flyover ramps.
If you don't believe me, stand on the bridge where Rockville Pike passes over the Beltway and tell me which is more bothersome, the Beltway (which is depressed there, not elevated) or the elevated Metro line.
Why not get on with the Metro extension and insist that all the access ramps to the HOT lanes go underground? The HOT lane project isn't subject to any Federal cost-effectiveness criteria.
Posted by: skeptic | June 4, 2007 9:26 PM
Waaaaaaaait a second. I didn't realize that they were going to eliminate the service roads on Route 7.
That will do more to hurt traffic than the metro will solve! If you think traffic is bad there now, imagine what it will be like when the number of cars making left turns triples!
This project really is a sad boondoggle. They need to cancel it and go back to the drawing board.
Have I mentioned that I am glad that I moved from Tysons Corner to Silver Spring three years ago...
Posted by: whoa... | June 4, 2007 10:32 PM
Metro should remain within the Dulles Toll Road. Instead of having a 15 minute detour through Tysons, they should have a seperate set of light rail lines to allow circulation in Tysons.
Posted by: Tysons | June 5, 2007 12:31 AM
The fix has been in for some time. This board doesn't need to see the contract to know they have to sign it, so five days is plenty for this bunch. They essentially signed it a long time ago. They are wedded to this 4-stop-in-Tysons-concept, which actually INCREASES traffic congestion (yep, that's what their own studies say), has no real cost cap (thanks Fairfax taxpayers), and has no proven backup revenue source (tolls to Dulles paying for this?? -- take a good look at that!). It's the wrong project, the wrong place in the county. Put in a train to Dulles and be done with it. Making a subway/elevated line through Tysons is just something to help developers sell more condos and office buildings.
Posted by: It's already decided .. | June 5, 2007 1:06 AM
If getting rail service to Dulles is the goal.. then START BUILDING THE RAIL FROM DULLES to a METRO STOP ..
Posted by: Start from DULLES airport | June 6, 2007 8:53 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
The board should vote to approve the rail project and get on with life. All these hindrances thrown in the way of providing a new source of mass transportation show the do-nothing attitude of this horrific Democratic controlled board. Oh, sorry, they do know how to collect tons of taxes.