DALLAS — Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Northern Virginia will use a total of $600 million in federal loans to pay their share of the $2.7 billion Silver Line to Washington Dulles International Airport.
The Transportation Department closed on the low-interest Transportation Infrastructure Finance Innovation Act loans last week. The loans included $403 million for Fairfax County and $195 million for Loudoun County.
Payments on the loans will not begin until the line to Dulles has been in service for five years. Completion of the Silver Line is set for 2018.
Fairfax County will repay its TIFIA loan with $218.2 million from a voluntary tax district and $185.1 million in commercial and industrial property tax revenue.
Loudoun County established several taxing districts to help repay its TIFIA loan. The districts levy a property tax of 20 cents per $100 of assessed value.
The loans to the two counties and the $1.28 billion loan to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority that closed in August represent the largest TIFIA assistance for a single project in the program's history, the Transportation Department said.
The Silver Line is being built by MWAA and will be operated as part of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's Metrorail system when work is completed.
MWAA is paying for the project in part with revenue bonds supported by collections on a 16-mile toll road between Washington and Dulles Airport.
