Gov. Kaine and Secretary Peters announced details of the revival of the Silver Line yesterday.In a conference call with Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and Virginia congressional leaders, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said that the first phase of the rail line planned between Arlington and Loudoun counties had finally met the Federal Transit Administration's standards for cost efficiency, construction and expected ridership. The project will now move into the final design phase, a major step toward receiving $900 million in federal funding. - LoudounExtraWhile officials and local residents celebrate a "victory" in the return of the rail project, buried in the announcement and its details are more land mines than ever before. For example, "the project will now move into the final design phase," which means that nothing is being built with this announcement. It merely continues the already delayed and highly contested design process. Surely celebrating the continuation of design is premature at best. The announcement carries no guarantees that the design will be approved, that it will be sufficient, or even that it will be completed!
Peters, Kaine and others cautioned that much work remains. To receive the entire $900 million, project officials must not allow the cost to escalate further, and they must demonstrate that its schedule, including an optimistic Phase I completion date of 2012, can be met. Toughest of all is a demand that the Metro system's $489 million in unfunded capital repairs be addressed before it takes on operation of a new 23-mile line. - LoudounExtraDoes anyone think it reasonable that costs will not escalate? that schedules will not slip? Does anyone, anywhere, have an answer to the rail maintenance question in a state that cannot even find a way to pay for its roads?
To the Washington Post's credit, the paper points out these flaws in yesterday's plan.
Among the issues {leading to the original FTA denial} were cost, the ability of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to manage the construction project, and the Metro system's capacity to operate the additional rail line. Simpson said they resolved those issues in part by agreeing to more than $200 million in cuts identified by state officials. Virginia officials also were persuaded to find $200 million for a contingency fund in case costs rise later.So, the project got conditional approval to proceed, based on the assumption that the cost will not increase and the timeline will not slip, but officials are already planning on cost increases and timeline extensions.It will be hard for project managers to avoid that. Because of the delays this year, the contract will have to be renegotiated, probably at a slightly higher cost, several officials said. And the scheduled 2012 completion date for Phase I, which would extend the new Silver Line from the East Falls Church Metro station in Arlington to Wiehle Avenue in Reston, probably would be moved back at least a year. The second phase, expected to be done in 2015, would extend beyond the airport into Loudoun. - LoudounExtra
Explain again how this is a win? All it seems to do is push out eventual project failure another few years, all the while our government is pouring good money after bad to keep this afloat. (And this doesn't even ask the question of where Virginia is going to find $200 million for a contingency fund when, again, we cannot fund our roads.)
Perhaps I am wrong, I very well could be, and I have been before. I sincerely hope that the project goes well, the line gets built on time and on budget. I sincerely hope that my neighbors will be riding the Metro from Dulles to Nationals games during the 2015 season. But I also hope that gas prices will stay stable, but I don't plan on it. Planning transportation policies on assumptions known to be faulty is what got us into the mess we're in today, with rail to Reston, I fear the same mistakes are being made all over again.
(Crossposted from Leesburg Tomorrow.)
2. This project does not go to Dulles Airport. That proposal has already been rejected by the western landowners. How extending the rail line to Dulles Airport will be accomplished is currently undefined.
3. This project should be subjected to competitive bidding. Sole source contracts are contrary to good public policy.
4. This project does not provide the comprehensive mass transit solution that the Tysons/Dulles corridor so desperately needs. Yet it will sap Federal transit funds for the area for decades to come.
In summary, this project is intended to benefit Bechtel and a few privileged landowners who've made campaign contributions to key elected officials (such as Gerry Connolly). It is not a comprehensive mass transit solution for northern Virginia.