The Virginia Department of Transportation turned over control of the Dulles Toll Road to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority on Monday, moving forward on a $5.2 billion Metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport and $2 billion of tax-exempt bonds that will finance it.
The transfer of the road, a 14-mile, eight-lane highway connecting the airport in the west to Interstate 495 and Interstate 66 in the east, marks progress on the project, which has faced many challenges since it was announced in 2006. It relies on nearly $1 billion from the Federal Transit Administration, which has been critical of the project.
FTA officials in late January told Gov. Timothy Kaine that the project did not meet federal funding cost-benefit requirements and said they could not provide the funds without drastic changes in the management of the project. Since then, project officials have worked with the FTA to meet its requirements, and the FTA has granted the authority funding for site preparation.
Project officials have said they are expecting the FTA to provide $900 million by the end of the year, and construction could begin as early as March.
In the agreement with VDOT, all toll road revenue collected by the MWAA will be used to maintain, operate, and improve the toll road and to fund transportation improvements within the Dulles Corridor, including the Dulles Metrorail project.
All toll rates will remain the same and no toll adjustments are expected until 2010, and the MWAA will conduct public hearings prior to any future toll adjustment. The plan includes using toll revenues to back about $2 billion of bonds to finance it.
A wrench could still be thrown into the transfer, as a lawyer for two toll road users said his clients are still reviewing whether to appeal a Richmond circuit court judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the road transfer.
