Dulles Metrorail Extension Gets New Life With Approval of FTA

The $5.2 billion Dulles Metrorail extension, all but dead nearly a year ago, was revived Wednesday when the Federal Transit Administration signed off on the plan, essentially guaranteeing $900 million of funding for a project that will be partly financed with more than $2 billion of tax-exempt bonds.

The 23-mile project still needs final approval from Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and the Office of Management and Budget, along with Congress, but the FTA's approval signals the extension will move forward.

"It is an important milestone, but there are more steps ahead," said Tara Hamilton, spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is heading the project.

If Peters and OMB officials give final approval to the extension, construction could begin as early as March, according to Hamilton. If work starts then, the first of two phases would be completed by 2013, she said.

Peters spokeswoman Sarah Echols said that "the department is continuing to review this complex project to ensure it meets all statutory requirements and additional conditions agreed to by the project sponsors."

Gordon Hickey, spokesman for Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, yesterday called the FTA decision "a step in the process" but said that there is "still work to be done."

Along with the federal funds, the MWAA plans to issue about $1.2 billion of bonds to finance the first phase of the project, an 11-mile stretch between the West Falls Church Metrorail station and a new station at Wiehle Avenue in Reston, Va. that is expected to cost $2.6 billion. Hamilton said if the federal money comes through, bond deals should follow, but she wouldn't specify an official time frame.

MWAA officials have said that more than $2 billion of bonds will be used in both phases. The debt will be backed by tolls from the Dulles Toll Road, which the authority received control over from the Virginia Department of Transportation last month. The rates on the Dulles Toll Road will remain the same with no toll adjustments expected until 2010, and the MWAA would be required to conduct public hearings prior to any future toll adjustments, Hamilton said.

Project officials are offering few specific details of the plan after a tumultuous year that began in January, when the FTA told Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine that the project did not meet federal funding cost-benefit requirements. The agency said it couldn't provide the nearly $1 billion needed for construction without drastic changes in the management of the project.

Federal regulators were concerned in part that the MWAA, which operates Dulles International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, had never managed a rail project. They also worried about Virginia's ability to contribute $50 million annually to metrorail.

But after project officials modified the original plan and provided assurances, FTA officials in May gave final design approval and $158.7 million of funding for the completion of a financial plan, construction plans, detailed engineering specifications and cost estimates, and other technical requirements. MWAA officials saw this as a turnaround.

The project's outlook further improved in August when the FTA told the authority that it could spend $14 million on site preparation for the project without jeopardizing possible federal funding, as long as it continued to meet federal requirements.

The $158.7 million grant the MWAA already received is part of the $900 million of total federal funding it needs for the project. The second phase is projected at about $2.5 billion, but officials have said that estimate could be revised.

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