Federal Disapproval of the Most Beneficial 23 Miles of Transit Ever

[cordon]

The federal government announced yesterday that they will disapprove the extension of the Washington, DC, Metrorail from near the Washington Beltway in Virginia to Dulles Airport 23 miles farther into the Virginia countryside.

Editorial from the Washington Post.

The rail extension has been planned for years, but now some officials say it is fraught with risks.  I am very familiar with the area because I lived in Fairfax County, VA, for 23 years.  Traffic to and from Dulles Airport and in the vicinity of the airport is abominable, despite repeated attempts to improve the roads.  Parking at the airport is also terrible and expensive.  Bedroom communities have sprouted in the area and will continue to do so.  If this Metrorail extension magically were to appear tomorrow, it would fill to capacity immediately and take tens of thousands of automobiles off the highways, along with their ills.

If the government doesn't see the huge net benefit to this one particular transit addition, then transit and passenger rail are probably lost as a part of the solution to our traffic and pollution problems.

 

 

[Anonymous]

Im familiar with that area as well.

Ever since Manassas exploded with the pending Disney park a decade or so ago, the commute into DC is brutal.

Dulles is a aiport that has the main ternimal inside a loop of road which itself is buried in a land full of ramps, parking and other things.

Even if you built the thing, how are you going to hook the ternimal to it?

In fact, Dulles is a hard way to get out of DC. I look towards BWI and THEY have light rail close to it.

Dont mis understand me, I like transit, I like the idea. But getting those Yankees to leave the car behind and walk or buy taxi service is very difficult to do.

The Government does not solve our commute problems. In the best spirit of the USA, that is usually left up to Private Citizens or Organizations with their own money.

I remember when Cities were the core and had it all. Now we are spread 50-120 miles around the dying city with the auto as the transport that is availible on demand 24/7. Going to be difficult indeed to get that retired.

My solution is to run Metro out to Dulles. Call it the cloud line or something similar to what they did with Red Line out of Rockville.

[Ham Radio]

The need is clearly there, but remember there will be a change in administration in DC after November.  The new folks might be more receptive.

It wouldn't hurt if Virginia stepped up with some funding as seed money to attract matching federal funds.  If you're waiting for the feds to pay 100%, I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

 

[oltmannd]

$5B is A LOT of money!  That'll buy you an entire network of a half dozen commuter rail lines in Atlanta two times over.  The 1990s upgrade of the NEC including electrification to Boston and the Acelas was only $2B.

You can buy a half a million seats in MCI busses for $5B

Heavy rail transit has it's place, but it's overkill for a run deep into suburbia.  It's too expensive to build compared to the ridership potential.  Is there another US city airport as far away from the city center as Dulles that has a heavy rail transit line running to it?

 

[Phoebe Vet]

The article I read about it said it has been touch and go all along.  It seemed to insinuate that the Feds wanted changes made and the project was dragging their feet.

Here in Charlotte, the Feds declined to participate in the one heavy rail line of our integrated mass transit project, but are continuing to participate in the rest.  We are trying to build that line without Federal participation.  The project includes heavy rail, light rail, trolleys, and enhanced bus service including some dedicated busways.

I suspect that the explanation is more complex than just yes or no to funding.

[cordon]

There may be hope yet.  I'm in Fairfax, VA, on vacation this week, and local rumors are that it's not really over.

Latest Washington Post editorial (This may be a short-term link).

But no smileys from here today.

 

[amsr]

Having rail service to Dulles isn't just about getting to the airport, its about opening up that whole area to reasonable commute/reverse commute times to/from DC. A significant portion of the jobs in the DC area are along the Reston/Herndon/Dulles toll road corridor. The population surrounding DC is expanding out past Dulles, and the drive into DC from that area is basically impossible to do in the morning. It is a total parking lot and thats with 66 east being HOV-2 for pretty much the whole way in. If they extended the orange line to Dulles, it would be filled over capacity on day one.

[amsr]

On second thought, how are they getting 5Bn in estimated costs? The cutoffs are already there at West Falls Church, and the train would pretty much run on a flat grade in the median of the toll road the whole way there. That and there is rumored to be a metro station already under the parking lot in front of Dulles that was placed there when the airport was built for such an extension.