Dulles rail could be running out of time
By Monty Tayloe
With the end of the month looming, officials for the Dulles Rail Project are busy working with the Federal Transit Authority to get the project approved before the current construction contract expires.
That situation could seem familiar because at the end of January all of those players were in the exact same position, until they agreed to a one-month extension in the contract, giving everyone involved more time to win over the FTA.
Now, that extension is about to expire, and sources close to the process say that the upcoming contract deadline has motivated a more intense effort to get a resolution for the foundering rail project.
The FTA could issue some sort of decision by Friday, but uncertainty over the dispensation of the $900 million in federal dollars needed for the project's current design has made life difficult for those working on the project. Those involved have to consider all the possibilities, said Howard Menaker, of Dulles Transit Partners, the project's contractor.
"DTP, [the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority] and the Commonwealth are all hard at work discussing how to keep the project going under any of the eventualities," Menaker said.
Those "eventualities" range from a continuation of the current state of limbo, to an outright refusal by the FTA to federally fund the project, to partial funding or some kind of conditional approval.
With so many possibilities and little concrete information about what might actually happen, officials are refusing to predict the future of one of the most expensive transportation projects in state history, even with the contract set to expire in just a few days.
"I'm not able to speculate about that," Menaker said.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer.
While all sides wait to see what, if anything, happens at the end of the month, the preliminary phase of the project continues in Tysons Corner. Every day, construction crews work to relocate utility lines along Route 7, a process that was supposed to occur concurrently with the beginning of the new rail line's construction.
"We're working with all the project parts and the contractor in discussions this week. ... We're looking for ways to move the contract forward," airports authority spokeswoman Tara Hamilton said.
Email the mtayloe@timespapers.com