Tuesday, December 11, 2012
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will receive award Tuesday from the Dulles Corridor Rail Association.
The Dulles Corridor Rail Association board of directors will present an award to US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at its annual meeting Tuesday in Tysons Corner. LaHood, who stepped in to form a compromise among stakeholders to reduce costs for the Silver Line's Phase 2 in 2011 and to keep Loudoun County from pulling out of the project in 2012, will also be the guest speaker at the event. DCRA Chairman Del. Kenneth Plum and Vice Chairman Del, Thomas D. Rust will present the award to the Secretary, according to a news release. Fairfax County Board Chairman Sharon Bulova will provide welcoming remarks. The Silver Line Phase 1 is on schedule and more than 80 percent completed. It is scheduled to open in December 2103. For more on the…
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Cash ensures Phase 2 will happen.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution that will ensure the continuation of the Dulles Rail extension to Loudoun County. The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is a multiparty agreement that outlines the fiscal responsibilities of federal, state and local entities in the estimated $2.8 billion Phase 2 of the rail project. The Board also approved an agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia addressing the use of a project labor agreement in Phase 2. The Washington Post reported last week that Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) also agreed to bring $150 million to the table to help finance the project. “This momentous vote guarantees that the most important transportation…
Friday, November 11, 2011
Deal involves $150M from Virginia; Unclear how much Toll Road users will pay for rail to go from Reston to Loudoun.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Proposal includes cheaper above-ground airport station plan.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board reversed its course on its plans for an underground station at Dulles International Airport, voting 11-1 Wednesday to accept a proposed plan - featuring the cheaper above-ground station - from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The MWAA board voted in April for the underground station, which would be more convenient for travelers but would increase costs by about $300 million Mame Reiley, chair of MWAA's Dulles Corridor Committee, said on Wednesday she still believes the underground station was the right thing for Dulles. "Although the difference in cost between the two choices has no direct impact on the cost of the tolls, our decision has become a political football," Reiley said in …
Friday, July 8, 2011
Congressmen say counties should share the sacrifice to make Phase 2 happen.
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Friday, July 8, 2011
Congressmen Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Frank Wolf (R-VA) wrote to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood on Thursday, supporting cost-cutting measures proposed by the Federal Transit Administration for Phase 2 of the Rail to Dulles project. The congressmen also urged all project partners to embrace those proposals. “The FTA proposal would require Fairfax County, Loudoun County, WMATA, and MWAA to share in the sacrifices to make this project more cost-effective,” Wolf and Connolly said in their letter. “In a perfect world, these measures would not be necessary. But in today’s fiscal environment, they are.” Connolly and Wolf, both long-time proponents of a rail link from the Nation’s Capital to Washington Dulles International Airport, …
Thursday, July 7, 2011
LaHood's July 3 white paper on reducing Dulles Metrorail Phase 2 costs includes aboveground station at airport.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wants Dulles Metrorail stakeholders to cut $1.058 billion from the Phase 2 price tag, and he says that each of the funding partners must make financial sacrifices to keep the project on schedule and affordable. The July 3 white paper presents LaHood's proposal that was crafted after five closed-door meetings since June 1 with the funding partners, including Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board, state elected leaders and officials in Fairfax and Loudoun counties. The second phase extends rail from Reston to Dulles International Airport and eastern Loudoun County. LaHood entered the fray as a mediator on June 1 because tensions among the stakeholders reached an all-time high with MWAA …
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Vincent Gray sides with Virginia governor and others on more frugal option.
Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said on Thursday he is rescinding his support for the underground Metro station option at Dulles International Airport. The mayor joins Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and US Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood in supporting the cheaper above-ground option. Gray said at a press conference he would rather have above-ground access to Dulles than no station at all. "I have reconsidered my position and we don't want to wind up with nothing," he said. The decision stems from a recent meeting Gray and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has said that the state cannot afford to spend the extra $300 million that an underground station would cost to build. It was unclear whether Gray was able to extract anything from …
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Group concerned that with mounting costs, project might fail.
Business leaders from Fairfax and Loudoun counties have sent a letter to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Board of Directors calling for significant cost reductions in the Phase II segment of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project. Estimated costs for Phase II have reached $3.5 billion, about a $1 billion higher than original projections. MWAA's recent decision to build the Dulles International Airport station below ground rather than above ground has added about $330 million to the price tag. At a press conference on Thursday across the street from the under-construction Wiehle Avenue station, business leaders - who represent more than 6,000 businesses and 500,000 residents and taxpayers - outlined their suggested …
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Stakeholders in the rail to Dulles project met Friday.
Stakeholders in the rail to Dulles Airport project met Friday morning for the second time this week to negotiate how to cut Phase 2 of the project's $3.5 billion price tag. The three funding partners of the rail project—Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), Fairfax County and Loudoun County—have less than 30 days to have a financial plan back to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who met with the stakeholders on Thursday. LaHood told the three parties that he wanted them to work together to cut the cost of the second phase. LaHood came in as a mediator as friction grew after MWAA’s controversial decision in April to spend $330 million more for an underground station at Dulles Airport, instead of a cheaper above-ground …
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
LaHood asks key players to reduce price tag within 30 days.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today asked the key players for the jeopardized rail to Dulles Airport project to reduce the second phase’s $3.5 billion price tag within 30 days. LaHood called the meeting with the hope of tempering the friction with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) board since its April decision to build a more expensive underground station at Dulles Airport. That decision increased the project cost by $300 million. Original estimates for the project came in at $2.5 billion, and that’s the figure on which stakeholders are focused. MWAA’s decision upset state and federal leaders and its funding partners in Loudoun and Fairfax counties. Representatives from both Fairfax and Loudoun counties …
Bob Bruhns
12:05 pm on Friday, December 14, 2012
Mr. LaHood thinks this double-priced rail ripoff is so great, that it should be a model for similar projects across the country. Unfortunately, people actually fall for this nonsense - so the only thing that is likely to stop that from happening, is national bankruptcy, or maybe the sequestration that is cutting MAP-21 funding of Tifia loans, or Virginia's growing bipartsan unwillingness to waste… more ›