After several months when it seemed dead as a doornail, it looks like the Silver Line is a go-forward:
Federal transportation officials today told Congress and Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) that they have approved the proposed 23-mile extension of Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, reversing their announcement in January that the project was unfit for federal funding.
In a letter to Kaine and in a 10 a.m. conference call with the governor and Virginia congressional leaders, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said the $5 billion project had finally met the Federal Transit Administration’s standards for cost efficiency, construction and expected ridership. The project will now move into the final design phase, a major step toward receiving $900 million in federal funding.
“As a result of the collaboration between federal and state officials, the project sponsor and other project stakeholders, the financial stability and oversight of the project has improved,” Peters wrote to Kaine in a letter obtained by The Washington Post. “Cost reductions have been verified and mechanisms have been established to enhance inter-organizational cooperation, technical capacity and project management.”
The news was met with widespread relief from Virginia politicians and business leaders, although there was also some upset from opponents of the aerial alignment of the rail line through busy Tysons Corner, where a debate over whether to dig a tunnel nearly derailed the entire project.
Of course, it will take 15 years or so for this to become a reality so let’s not pop the champagne corks just yet.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:32 pm
[...] Below the Beltway takes a longer view, 15 years (here). [...]