DALLAS — A $1.9 billion federal low-interest loan approved Thursday for the $5.7 billion Silver Line metrorail extension to the Dulles International Airport is the largest ever awarded under the 15-year program.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx signed off on the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan for the project in Northern Virginia. The three-part loan was approved Feb. 21 by DOT's credit council. The loan is expected to close within weeks.
The $1.9 billion package for the second segment of the 23-mile Silver Line project takes the top spot on the TIFIA loan list from the $1.6 billion provided to New York Thruway Authority for the $5 billion Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project.
The Silver Line loan package includes $1.3 billion to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is building the Silver Line project. It also includes $275 million to Fairfax County and $200 million for Loudon County for their shares of the project.
With the TIFIA loan now assured and $300 million pledged by the state of Virginia, the airports authority said it won't have to raise tolls on the Dulles Toll Road for at least five years. Revenue from the toll road between Washington, D.C., and Dulles Airport support bonds for the metrorail project.
"The approval of a federal low-interest TIFIA loan for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project is a victory for users of the Dulles Toll Road, whose toll payments help fund construction of the Silver Line extension of the Washington region's Metrorail public transit system," a spokesman for the airports authority said.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is scheduled to issue approximately $447.7 million of toll road revenue refunding bonds in a negotiated sale this month to complete its portion of the funding for the Silver Line project.
JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Loop Capital Markets will be senior underwriters for the refunding bonds.
The subordinate lien bonds are rated Baa1 by Moody's Investors Service and BBB-plus by Standard & Poor's.
MWAA issued $963 million of toll revenue bonds in August 2009 and another $342.6 million in May 2010 for the project. The airports authority has $1.7 billion of rated revenue debt.
Approval of the TIFIA loan was announced by Virginia's congressional delegation.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who helped secure a $900 million federal grant for the 12-mile first phase of the project while governor of Virginia, said the $1.9 billion TIFIA loan paves the way for on-time completion of the final 11-mile segment.
The new line will spur economic development in northern Virginia, Kaine said.
"This has been a tremendous bipartisan effort to bring this project home, and I believe it will be well worth the wait," Kaine said.
Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., said the new rail line will ease traffic woes in crowded northern Virginia.
"Paving our way out of the worst traffic in the nation is impossible," Moran said. "This extension is critical to reducing congestion, commuting time, and gas consumption."
The TIFIA program has provided $15.8 billion in credit assistance, not counting the Silver Line loan, for 42 projects since 1999, DOT said. President Obama's proposed four-year, $302 billion surface transportation bill includes $4 billion for TIFIA.
The Silver Line will be operated and maintained by Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The first segment has been completed and is being tested for passenger service, which is expected to begin this year. The second and final leg is scheduled for completion in 2018.
