January 24, 2008
Dulles Rail May be Falling Apart
Eep. Just a week after we first heard that the Federal Transit Administration was still a bit skeptical about the Dulles Rail project, which would require $900 million in federal funds to be completed, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Sen. John W. Warner (R) and a few other state officials went down to Capitol Hill today only to be told by the head of the Federal Transit Administration, James S. Simpson, that the project doesn't seem like a "prudent investment."
The Post is also on the story, explaining that FTA officials apparently aired some serious, still undisclosed concerns to Kaine and company for the first time today, and that Kaine has promised to respond to those concerns by Monday.
Some of the concerns the FTA has that are known are whether the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has the experience and technical staff to manage a rail extension, and whether Metro's publicly messy financial house is in order. Metro General Manager John Catoe released the following statement:
“Metro has always supported the proposed Metrorail extension in the Dulles Corridor and the Metro Board has adopted resolutions expressing this support. We believe that this corridor needs this rail extension to meet the growing travel demand in the corridor and the region. We will continue to work with the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to advance this important project.”
Stay tuned for more Dulles rail-related mayhem next week!
Photo by Eye Captain
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What a fucking joke. They manage a goddamn airport, and the FTA is worried that they can't manage a railroad? Consultants do all the work, anyway, and managing an airport consultant is the same as managing a rail consultant.
IMO, the FTA is still pissed that their consultants proved them wrong about the tunnel, and now they'll do anything to torpedo the whole project.
Honestly I really hope they kill it. Metro needs to invest in what it has before they can expand to this level...ie..2nd river crossing.
"on the next..days of our lives".
anyone else feel like they are watching a really really bad soap opera??
I've never understood why FTA even considers phase 2 (the portion being managed by the airports authority) relevant to the funding decision. There's no federal money involved with that part.
So, if they don't build it...are they going to refund the money to everyone who paid for the toll raise that was supposed to pay for part of it?
Laugh if you will...but the toll road should be able to figure out how much those of us with smart tags paid over the few years it was raised for the metro.
(yeah, I know...it's laughable to even think they would consider it)
Ah, Dulles Rail. The DC Voting Rights of Northern Virginia. Scuttled again by factional squabbling and petty agendas.
I personally find it hard to believe that a state governor, two US Congressmen, and two US Senators--one of whom is a highly esteemed member of the President's own party--can't make this happen somehow. I mean, this isn't like rebuilding a war-torn Middle Eastern country. It's a fucking subway. Make it happen.
Dulles rail was dead 30+ years ago when Fairfax county planners turned down what Metrorail planners had suggested (longer Orange line, Dulles rail) and only accepted the 3 Orange line stations in the county we have today.
So, if they don't build it...are they going to refund the money to everyone who paid for the toll raise that was supposed to pay for part of it?
Screw that. What about the $120 mil that's ALREADY been spent on this thing? Every step of the way, VA and WMATA bent over forwards, backwards, and gave the Feds a reacharound. They met every single milestone and standards the Feds set. Now that we're about to bust a nut, the Feds tell us to pull out and shoot skeet into a gym sock in the next room because it isn't a prudent investment and this is her first time so be gentle.
The U.S. Department of Transportation brings a new meaning to the phrase "pricktease whore."
Monkey: Yep.
It also shows--once again--where the priorities of the Bush administration lie. Public transportation just isn't on their agenda.
Dulles rail was dead 30+ years ago when Fairfax county planners turned down what Metrorail planners had suggested (longer Orange line, Dulles rail) and only accepted the 3 Orange line stations in the county we have today.
Don't buy it. Granted Fairfax County looks like it was planned by people who looked at Orange County and said: let's do THAT, but with COLONIAL architecture. But it shouldn't be impossible for a metropolitan area to reverse course when it becomes necessary and revisit its past mistakes. It's a dodge to shrug your shoulders and say: "Well, it was fucked a long time ago." By that logic, 90% of the cities in this country are irredeemably fucked.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the rail to Dulles, even if it's feasible I won't be living in the area when it's done. That being said, I can't say I disagree with the statement:
'Simpson emphasized his concerns about Metro, likening the Dulles expansion to putting a two-room addition onto a house that is falling down. "First, you have to fix the house," he said later at a news conference. "Metro's operational issues have become really serious over the last several months," he said.'
Yesterday's Orange Line delay/fiasco was just another in a long string of issues for Metro. If politicians really want this I say "Get us our dedicated funding source, then do whatever is necessary (up to and including resurrecting Mussolini) to get the system operating correctly and consistently. Then, we can talk about adding to the system."
Dulles Rail: the latest version of blue balls.
No one's disputing that Metro has operational issues...the frustrating part of all of this is that either Simpson's concerns re: Metro's operations weren't voiced until five days before a decision is due, or they were addressed before and Simpson is either ignoring or refuting the response.
Metro didn't suddenly develop operational problems 2-3 months ago. Their difficulties have been known for some time. I have faith that if John Catoe has gone on record as stating that Metro is capable of "getting its house in order" AND handling an additional 23 miles of track, then there is reason to support that statement.
But it shouldn't be impossible for a metropolitan area to reverse course when it becomes necessary and revisit its past mistakes.
It shouldn't be, but most of the time it seems like it is. It's easy enough for you and I to say something is fucked up and propose a solution, but we're just two anonymous jerkoffs on the internet; we don't have to live with the consequences of our proposed solution if it's just as wrong as what we say needs to be fixed.
Getting politicians to admit mistakes and then act accordingly is a near impossible task (see: War in Iraq and both Barry administrations here in DC).
By that logic, 90% of the cities in this country are irredeemably fucked.
Are you saying they're not? I mean DC is a much better place to live than when I moved here in '96, but there are structural forces at work here that may never allow DC to become the great city we all want it to be. And (IMHO) you can say the same thing about NYC, Chicago, LA, etc.
I have to blame Virginia's politicians on this. Birthplace of the presidents has shown over the last 200 years that they don't know how to govern and work their federal connections. If you just look at the time since the 1980s in planning this, Houston and Dallas and San Jose have built light rail systems. The entire state of New Jersey also connected itself with a light rail system. Los Angeles built a subway system. San Francisco extended their subway to the airport in one direction and out to BFE (also known as Concord, CA) in the other and built a light rail line to the Southeast part of the city and have started work (and received federal money for) a central subway. There are countless other transit projects in every other state, all funded with DoT money.
Catoe needs to go. Metro needs to do what is necessary to lure Tangherlini back from the black hole of a job that wonder boy Fenty has given him.
I don't understand. VA has two freakin' Senators. If they really wanted this they'd filibuster a few bills and magically they'd get what they want.
Problem solved.
Or, since it is VA, just pass a special tax on the gays. VA hates them anyway, so just make every gay person in the state pay a special gay tax, since they are second class citizens already. Viola. Problem solved.
Hillman: I say they tax ethnic and religious minorities while they're at it! We could call it the anything-but-a-straight-WASP tax.
Does this really surprise anybody? Those bitches don't want to put up a dedicated funding source to pay their share for the existing Metrorail system, but they're whining and pouting when the FTA lets them in on the fact that their expansion plans are fucked.
This isn't just a Virginia problem, though. Virginia drivers clog up the region's--not just Virginia's--roads, in the same way that I-270 traffic in Montgomery County would be substantially worse if the Red Line didn't exist. That means additional cars on all of our freeways and roads, additional pollution, additional commuting times, etc. Which speaks nothing to the number of DCers and Marylanders who fly in and out of Dulles on a regular basis who would benefit from this.
The entire region is dependant upon Virginia and the Feds working this out. It's a shame that it seems that it won't be the case.
@14thandYou: I have never once flown out of Dulles. And I don't know why anyone in DC would. It's too hard to get to. And there are better closer options. There is no doubt that better transit to Dulles is a great idea. But we aren't going to fix Northern Virginias mess with a single rail line connecting Reston to Arlington. Tysons needs better transit options, but that needs to be at the core of a regional transit system for Fairfax county and Northern Virginia, not a bad appendage to a system whose center is in the District. Virginia can't even build the roads it needs, so I don't expect it to build the transit it needs either. The political system is Virginia is as gridlocked as its roads. Build an express train that runs from the Orange line to Dulles and forget trying to solve Tysons' mess with an ill-conceived detour through that area. It will just slow down the trip to Dulles anyway. And spur a massive build up in Tysons that the rest of Northern Virginia will not be able to handle. It already takes 45 minutes to get from Tysons to Vienna on 123 or from Tysons to Falls Church on Rt. 7 during rush hour. This rail line is going to do nothing to fix those problems.
I take it this doesn't bode well for Maryland's plan to extend the Green Line to BWI Airport? Annapolis may as well save the millions they're planning on spending for environmental impact statements and feasibility studies.
DC1974, regarding flying out of Dulles--I have a number of times, frequently because the places I'm flying to (particularly international destinations) either don't have departures out of National or BWI, or the flights that depart out of those two are significantly more expensive. At any rate, I'm quite happy for you that you've been able to avoid Dulles your entire life. I guess us less fortunate souls will just have to soldier on.
Regarding solving NoVa's transit issues--I don't think anyone was arguing that the Silver Line was going to do that. Certainly not by itself. But it's a critical component to an overall transportation plan--linking in that part of the region with the remainder of the region and D.C. through a centralized rail system. Virginia has made some bad transportation choices, but this isn't one of them--and this 11th hour protest by the federal government is as irritating as it is ridiculous.
When you get right down to it, you can come up with enough "what if" doomsday scenarios to kill pretty much any large scale project--particularly when it comes to transportation. I firmly believe, for example, that if Metro hadn't been built in the 60s, there is no conceivable way it would get funded and built today.
DC1974, regarding flying out of Dulles--I have a number of times, frequently because the places I'm flying to (particularly international destinations) either don't have departures out of National or BWI, or the flights that depart out of those two are significantly more expensive. At any rate, I'm quite happy for you that you've been able to avoid Dulles your entire life. I guess us less fortunate souls will just have to soldier on.
Regarding solving NoVa's transit issues--I don't think anyone was arguing that the Silver Line was going to do that. Certainly not by itself. But it's a critical component to an overall transportation plan--linking in that part of the region with the remainder of the region and D.C. through a centralized rail system. Virginia has made some bad transportation choices, but this isn't one of them--and this 11th hour protest by the federal government is as irritating as it is ridiculous.
When you get right down to it, you can come up with enough "what if" doomsday scenarios to kill pretty much any large scale project--particularly when it comes to transportation. I firmly believe, for example, that if Metro hadn't been built in the 60s, there is no conceivable way it would get funded and built today.