Bus advocates see opening as Dulles rail falters

With the chances dimming of the 23-mile project’s first phase receiving a key $900 million from the Federal Transit Administration, the argument over bus rapid transit has resurrected on both state and local levels.

Last week, newly elected Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity clashed with Chairman Gerry Connolly over his support of the rubber-wheeled alternative. State legislators also have backed a bill that would study creating bus rapid transit in Northern Virginia.

“It’s cost-effective, it can reach all over the Northern Virginia area, unlike rail, which will never do that,” said Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, a long-time opponent of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project.

The bill studying BRT has a dozen patrons, including Del. Vivian Watts, D-Annandale, and Sen. Chap Peterson, D-Fairfax, both of whom support the Metro extension.

Proponents of BRT say it could be put in place far less expensively than the rail, run with traffic and on dedicated routes, and cover a wider area. Backers of Dulles Rail, which would have run from West Falls Church into Loudoun County, say the system is no replacement for rail.

Bill Lecos, president of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, said BRT wouldn’t move as many people as a fixed rail line and wouldn’t provide the land-use and planning benefits offered by it.

The FTA, however, appears unlikely to fund the rail because it is too expensive to meet federal cost-benefit standards, and for other management and financing reasons. The announcement sparked outrage from many local leaders who were depending on the project to reshape the region.

“Notwithstanding the nature of [FTA] Administrator [Jim] Simpson’s concerns, no one yet has denied the common sense of this project in the sense of its urgency, and its need,” Lecos said.

wflook@dcexaminer.com