State Saddles Fairfax & Loudoun with Cost of Dulles Rail, Allows Diversion of Funds to Unproven Projects
COALITION FOR SMARTER GROWTH, PIEDMONT ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL, and SIERRA CLUB - VIRGINIA CHAPTER
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
August 17, 2011
Contact:
Stewart Schwartz, CSG, 703-599-6437
Chris Miller, PEC, Office: 540-347-2334, Cell: 703-507-5790
Roger Diedrich, SC, 703-352-2410
State Saddles Fairfax & Loudoun with Cost of Dulles Rail
Allows Diversion of Funds to Unproven Projects
The Commonwealth of Virginia is poised to be the smallest contributor to one of the most significant transportation investments of our time – Dulles Rail.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton has indicated that the state might put up $150 million for Phase 2, a mere 5.3% of the total $2.8 billion cost of that phase. For the total project, at one point estimated at $5.5 billion, Fairfax is expected to pay 16.1%, Loudoun 4.8%, MWAA 4.1%, toll payers 52.6%, the Federal government 17.1%, and Virginia 5.2%.
“The benefits of Dulles Rail will accrue to the entire State. It will substantially improve traffic in Northern Virginia, and as a result, benefit the entire statewide transportation network. It would also encourage transit-oriented development, which will have a positive impact on both the local and state tax base” said Chris Miller, President of The Piedmont Environmental Council.
"We have been shocked that the State of Virginia has provided so little support for Dulles Rail," said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. "If you are a Fairfax or Loudoun landowner helping to pay for the project, a resident and taxpayer, or a driver and toll payer, you should be incensed that the State of Virginia may pay nothing toward the costs of Phase 2 of Dulles Rail and so little overall," said Schwartz.
This week the Washington Post Editorial Board stated that "There’s no reason Fairfax taxpayers should be stuck with tens of millions of dollars in bills for an asset whose benefits will extend well beyond the county’s boundaries for many years to come." They also noted the cost to Loudoun County and stated that "help should come from Richmond, which is getting a tremendous asset in the Silver Line without having ponied up much in return."
"At the same time that the state expects the taxpayers and drivers of Loudoun and Fairfax to pay nearly three-quarters of the cost of Dulles Rail, the state is diverting or about to divert hundreds of millions of dollars from our scarce transportation funds to questionable highway bypass projects," said Miller.
Adding "In a matter of a few weeks this summer, Secretary Connaughton campaigned for and diverted money to revive the controversial Charlottesville Western Bypass. The Secretary diverted $70 million in state bonds and $160 million in Federal Minimum Guarantee funds (all of this pot of money) to fund the bypass and two other area projects despite significant lack of consensus and the ineffectiveness of the proposed bypass." .
Secretary Connaughton has also made a western bypass of Northern Virginia a new "Corridor of Statewide Significance" in the state plan, despite evidence that it wouldn’t help traffic on existing roads. "We have heard that the Secretary clearly wants this project to receive priority funding, yet the TriCounty Parkway portion of this corridor could cost up to $475 million according to the state transportation plan,[i] and can hardly be justified given the combined needs for Dulles Rail and improving I-66," said Schwartz.
Dulles Rail Phase 2 must also depend on a limited supply of federal TIFIA loan funds, and is unlikely to receive as much as the project has requested, making state funding even more important.
"Connecting Dulles Airport to Tysons Corner and Washington, DC should be a top state priority for funding. The state should be providing $500 million or more toward the cost of Phase 2 so that tolls can be kept at a manageable level," concluded Roger Diedrich of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club.
[i] Surface Transportation Plan – Northern Virginia -- http://www.virginiadot.org/Projects/vtransNew/resources/VSTP_-by_Chapter/Chapter-6-by-Region/Chap6_2Northern.pdf, see page 121.
