WASHINGTON — Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has until Friday to respond to concerns raised by the Federal Transit Administration that the first phase of a proposed $5.1 billion, 23-mile subway extension to Washington Dulles International Airport does not currently meet cost/benefit requirements for federal funding.
“I am writing to notify you that the Federal Transit Administration has agreed to your request for additional time to consider FTA’s concerns about the Dulles Corridor Metrorail-Extension to Wiehle Avenue Project,” FTA administrator James Simpson said in a Jan. 28 letter to Kaine that gives him until Feb. 1 to respond.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is managing the project, under an agreement with the state.
The authority had planned to issue about $2 billion of bonds to finance of the project’s cost. The bonds would be backed by tolls from the Dulles toll road. The FTA was expected to provide $900 million for estimated $2.7 billion first phase of the project - an 11-mile stretch between the West Falls Church Metrorail station to a new station at Wiehle Avenue in Reston.
But last week the FTA raised several concerns, including about the MWAA’s ability to oversee the project and whether it is good policy to add a major extension to a subway system that has a large backlog of maintenance projects.
At the press conference last week, Simpson said that if the FTA would have turned down the project for funding if it had to make the decision then. The project has also raised interest from private investors, including the Carlyle Group, but no proposals have been made, according to published reports.
