The Washington Post says that federal transportation officials are planning to announce their backing of a $5 billion, 23-mile extension of Metrorail to Dulles International Airport. That announcement would represent a dramatic reversal of a January finding that the benefits of the project were too marginal and the risks too great to warrant federal funding.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine were expected to inform Northern Virginia’s congressional leaders of the decision in a private conference call at 10 a.m. today.
The announcement represents a great coup for the Kaine administration. Federal funding for the controversial rail project is absolutely critical. 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.
Update: Our friend TooManyTaxes has passed along a summary, prepared by the Federal Transit Administration, of “what changed” between January and today. Two of the more tangible changes include: identification of $200 million in cost reductions and “a Finance Plan with more resources committed to the project.”