That’s the slogan of a group of Fairfax County die-hards who refuse to give up on the idea of running the Rail-to-Dulles extension of the Washington Metro in a tunnel underneath Tysons Corner. Alec MacGillis reports in the Washington Post that TysonsTunnel.org, an offshoot of the Greater McLean Chamber of Commerce, is trying to raise $3 million from local businesses to pay for engineering designs that could prove a tunnel is feasible.
Clearly, the movement has widespread local support. As MacGillis writes:
More than 200 residents packed an auditorium in McLean on Wednesday to hear experts assembled by the group argue that building an elevated track for the four-mile Tysons portion of the 23-mile Metro extension from West Falls Church to Dulles International Airport would worsen traffic congestion during construction. A track also would deal a blow to Fairfax’s efforts to turn the area into a lively, walkable downtown similar to Arlington County’s Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, they said.
Tunnel supporters have strong arguments. If Rail to Dulles is built, it should run underneath Tysons Corner, not above. But they’re wasting their time. The die has been cast. As long as Rail to Dulles is dependent upon federal funding, it must meet the requirements of the Federal Transit Authority for cost-effectiveness. All evidence suggests that the project is marginal to begin with. Any delay, which would lead to inflation-driven cost increases, or any changes that would increase the cost of the project — regardless of who pays for them — will make the project even more tenuous.
The only option is to abandon the idea of federal funding and re-think the project from scratch. There would be several elements to such an approach: (1) Put up the design and construction of the project for competitive bids in the hope of bringing down the price; (2) Tap the stakeholders, those who would benefit the most from the project, to help pay for it by setting up Community Development Authorities to issue bonds to pay for construction. If the project financing can be worked out, that’s terrific. If not, then it represents a massive transfer of wealth from the general populace to a select group of landowners and doesn’t deserve to be built.