(The following article by Dominic Bonaiuto and Marcia McAllister was posted on the Reston Times website on June 15.)
RESTON, Va. — The decades-long effort to extend Metrorail into the Dulles corridor reached a critical milestone last week when federal transit officials approved the start of preliminary engineering on the first phase of expansion from West Falls Church to Reston.
“If this step had not been taken, there would be no future steps,” said J. Kenneth Klinge, chairman of the Dulles Corridor Task Force, which coordinates state and local activities on the project. “For the first time, we’re not talking about concepts anymore.”
The preliminary engineering work will map out precisely where the rail line and accompanying stations will go, how they should be built, how long it will take and how much it will cost.
Following last week’s federal announcement, Virginia transit officials signed an agreement with Dulles Transit Partners, a private-sector corporation made up of building giants Bechtel and Washington International Group, to perform the engineering work, which is expected to take about 15 months.
Virginia’s partnership with the private sector is significant for multiple reasons: It marks the first time Metro will not have sole responsibility for expanding its transit system, and it is the first time Virginia has used its public-private partnership authority, which has proved highly successful for building highways, on a transit project.
In fact, federal transit officials have never dealt with such an agreement and brought in outside help to review the proposal.
Metro has agreed to serve as a technical adviser to Dulles Transit Partners, which was a key provision for federal officials.
In addition, the state is about to hire a veteran project manager with experience on a project of this size and has even been vetting candidates with federal officials, according to Karen Rae, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
As part of the proposal, Dulles Transit Partners will have a fixed schedule and price for completing its work and will share in the risk, according to Rae.
She noted the corporation is pouring $25 million of its own money into the engineering costs and will recoup that money only if the state agrees to sign with it again to perform final design and construction management.
Federal officials tempered their announcement by saying they have merely “nudged” the Dulles project forward, highlighting the fact that they have only approved work on phase one of the planned two-part Metro expansion, which will eventually run to Dulles International Airport and Loudoun County.
Klinge said Virginia is seeking federal approval to do the engineering work for the second half of the 23-mile corridor at the same time if the commonwealth picks up the costs.
At the behest of federal officials, the full $4 billion-plus project was split in two last year because of cost concerns.
“We have to bow to the reality of the federal government’s wishes, but that will not deter us from seeing this as one seamless project,” said Fairfax County board chairman Gerry Connolly (D).