Feds Close on $1.3 Billion TIFIA Loan For Silver Line

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DALLAS -- Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has closed on a $1.28 billion federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan to fund construction of the final 11 miles of a light-rail line to Washington Dulles International Airport.

The airports authority, which announced the closing on Wednesday, is financing and building the Silver Line extension from Washington to the airport. The line will be operated by Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority as part of the Metrorail system when completed in 2018.

Federal funding for the $2.7 billion second phase of the Silver Line project also includes low-interest TIFIA loans of $403 million to Fairfax County and $200 million to Loudoun County for their shares of the project. Total funding includes $300 million from the state of Virginia and $430 million of toll road revenue bonds issued by MWAA in May.

The northern Virginia counties are expected to close on their TIFIA loans in the fall. The $300 million from the state was authorized by the 2013 Legislature to avoid an increase in tolls on the Dulles Toll Road.

MWAA cannot draw on its portion of the loan until the county closings are final.

Revenue bonds issued by MWAA are supported by collections on the 16-mile toll road between Washington and Dulles Airport. MWAA took over the toll road from Washington to the airport in 2008 under a 50-year agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation.

The airports authority issued $963 million of toll revenue bonds in August 2009 for the first segment of the Silver Line project and another $342.6 million in May 2010.

MWAA's second-lien toll road revenue bonds are rated BBB-plus by Standard & Poor's and Baa1by Moody's Investors Service. The authority's $5 billion of senior-lien airport revenue bonds are rated A1 by Moody's and AA-minus by S&P.

MWAA said the low-interest TIFIA loan will allow it to keep tolls on the Dulles toll road at current levels through 2018 and limit toll increases thereafter.

"The Airports Authority will continue to work closely with all our partners to find additional opportunities to minimize future tolls," a spokesman said.

Tolls for a full-length trip will be $3.50 through 2018 and are expected to increase to $4.75 in 2019, MWAA said.

The total $1.9 billion of TIFIA loans for the Silver Line's second phase is the largest amount in the 15-year history of the program, said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who represents Loudoun County. That's on top of a $900 million full-funding grant from the Federal Transit Administration for the first phase, Wolf said, which was the second-largest award in the last 20 years.

"No one can say the federal government hasn't done its part to bring rail to Tysons and out the Dulles corridor to Loudoun County," he said.

The first segment of the Silver Line, which opened to passenger service in late July, stretches 12 miles from a connection with Metrorail's Orange Line in Falls Church, Va., through Tyson's Corner to Reston. The project includes a 2,300-car parking garage, 64 new rail cars, and an expanded rail yard.

The next phase of the project will extend the Silver Line from its current terminus near Reston through the airport and into Loudoun County. It will include six stations, including one at Dulles that is connected to passenger terminal by underground walkways equipped with moving sidewalks.

The Silver Line is being built by Capital Rail Constructors, a joint venture of Clark Construction Group and Kiewit Infrastructure South.

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