Despite risk, Dulles rail moves forward

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - 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.

No date has been set for actually moving gas, electric and fiber optic lines, which is the first step to construct the rail line, though design work is under way.

But 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.

She would not disclose how much money has been paid to the two contractors, Bechtel Infrastructure and Washington Group International, for the utility work.

The move demonstrates Virginia and MWAA officials’ confidence they will receive the Federal Transit Administration dollars, without which the project won’t be able to move forward.

However, the FTA earlier this year said the proposed $2.83 billion price tag of the initial 11.6-mile leg was too expensive to fund for the comparatively small number of riders it would serve. The agency has yet to decide whether to accept more than $300 million in cuts that state officials hope will make the project eligible for the funding.

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.

Fairfax County Supervisor-elect John Foust worried that commitment may be an attempt to create “an air of inevitability” for the project. Foust supports the scuttled plan to build a tunnel, not an aerial rail under Tysons, as well as putting the entire project out for competitive bidding.

“I wouldn’t want to hear an argument six months from now that we can’t consider a tunnel because we’ve already spent money on relocating utilities,” he said.

wflook@dcexaminer.com

Advertisement