The Rail-to-Dulles project will cost about $5.15 billion, according to a presentation given earlier in May to the board of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, reports the Times Community Newspapers. The highest official figure yet, the number is about 25 percent higher than preliminary estimates bandied about as recently as a year ago.
While the federal contribution will remained capped at $900 million and the state donation at $75 million, other costs are determined by fixed percentages. Under the latest scenario, Dulles Toll Road users are expected to fund 56 percent of the total cost, or $2.89 billion. (Fairfax County, Loudoun County and the MWAA will chip in the balance, about 25 percent of the total.)
What happens if the price tag escalates yet again? Everyone but the state and feds will have to pony up a larger share. Bottom line: Commuters using the Dulles Toll Road constitute the deep pockets that will cover 2/3 of any cost overruns. Fairfax County land-owners whose properties will soar in value will pay only a small fraction through a special tax district.
Let’s add up the pieces… The heavy rail construction project will be managed by the airports authority, which regards the Metro extension to Dulles International Airport as vital to its long-term interests but pays only 4.1 percent of the project cost… The MWAA board is stacked with a majority of non-Virginians who feel no pain if Virginia commuters get hosed… Commuters have absolutely no say-so in how the project is administered… A negotiated contract is likely to be granted to Bechtel, the company who brought Boston the Big Dig project…
I’m going way out on a limb here, but it looks like Dulles Toll Road commuters are going to get royally hosed. I’m glad I live in Richmond, not Northern Virginia.