Reports the Examiner:
Work will begin on the Dulles Metrorail extension in Tysons Corner even before the fate of a crucial $900 million in federal funds has been determined, officials said Wednesday.
The move, to begin utility relocation along Route 7, commits Virginia more deeply than ever to a transit line whose funding remains uncertain.
… Tara Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is managing the rail project, said that ground-breaking won’t be stalled even though the federal government is still deciding whether to fund the project.
Isn’t that risky? After all, the Federal Transit Administration has expressed significant reservations about the project. Federal funding, which would pay roughly 25 percent of the project cost, is hardly guaranteed.
It seems the state is between a rock and a hard place.
MWAA green-lighted the utility design work because of terms of a contract with Bechtel and Washington Group that required Virginia to pay a fee of several million dollars if the project did not move forward by Aug. 1, officials said.
“There were activities that were undertaken at the request of the airports authority by [Bechtel and Washington Group], basically to keep the contractors busy so the cost penalties were not incurred,” said Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer.