The Washington Post’s editorial page applauds the diligence local leaders have shown on Silver Line development, a Metro extension through north Virginia that’s been in the making since before man landed on the moon. The paper reported on what that diligence has won:

Federal regulators have approved a long-awaited extension of Metrorail to Tysons Corner and Dulles International Airport, virtually assuring construction of a $5.2 billion project that regional leaders say is crucial to ease congestion and spur economic growth in Northern Virginia.

By signing off on the project, the Federal Transit Administration reversed its position of almost a year ago, when its regulators declared Dulles rail unqualified to receive $900 million in federal funding, citing cost overruns, delays and concerns about management.

To whom do north Virginians owe this turn of fortune? As the editorial details, the project almost certainly would not have come this close to realization without a bevy of bipartisan Virginia legislators and state and federal executives: Sen. John Warner, Rep. Frank Wolf, and then-Rep. Tom Davis for the Republicans and Sen.-elect Mark Warner and Governor Tim Kaine for the Democrats. No doubt Barack Obama’s plan to pick up the economy with infrastructure spending helped.

Transit booster Ryan Avent greets the news with great enthusiasm, saying it affirms that “transit can be used to reengineer dysfunctional autoscapes into thriving downtowns.” This writer learned that lesson at an early age from playing SimCity, which made it perfectly clear that the only way to get ahead was to replace all the roads with train tracks.

Is the advance of the Silver Line likely to pave the way for future development? The Purple Line seems mired in cynical politics, with supporters apparently claiming that resistance to the measure is “rooted in elitism, with those in wealthier western suburbs not wanting to be linked to poorer areas.” And what about expanding Metro within Washington, D.C., rather than expanding Washington, D.C. through Metro?

Photo by SuperTopher.