Virginia Should Pay $500 Million Toward Dulles Rail Phase 2
COALITION FOR SMARTER GROWTH
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
September 8, 2011
Contact:
Stewart Schwartz
202-244-4408 ext 121
State Should Pay $500 Million Toward Dulles Rail Phase 2
Amid ongoing negotiations over Dulles Rail Phase 2, Virginia Secretary of Transportation Connaughton has said the state will not provide more than $150 million toward Dulles Rail Phase 2.
“Dulles Rail will connect the economic engines that power Northern Virginia and the state. It’s absolutely fair for the State of Virginia to pay at least $500 million toward Phase 2 of the project,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “Moreover, the state should also be committing funds to other critical northern Virginia transportation needs such as Tysons Corner and I-66, instead of diverting funds to rural highways where the need has not been effectively demonstrated. These include the Coalfields Expressway in southwest Virginia, the northern Virginia ‘BiCounty Parkway,’ and Route 460 in southside Virginia.”
Examples:
- Coalfields Expressway - $282 million currently allocated from the Public Private Transportation Act Fund
- Route 460 – PPTA bidder Cintra says it needs $782 million from the state
- BiCounty Parkway (Tricounty Pkwy western alignment and part of the Outer Beltway) – a top priority of Secretary Connaughton could cost between $250 million and $475 million (the latter number is found in the VTRANS state transportation plan)
- Charlottesville Bypass -- $230 million shifted to this project in July 2011 (for bypass and two interchanges) despite significant local opposition
More Information
See joint Coalition for Smarter Growth, Sierra Club – Virginia Chapter, and Piedmont Environmental Council press release of August 17, 2011: http://www.smartergrowth.net/anx/index.cfm/1,126,1094,0,html/State-Saddles-Fairfax-amp-Loudoun-with-Cost-of-Dulles-Rail-Allows-Diversion-of-Funds-to-Unproven-Projects
See also, CSG testimony on funding Tysons Corner transportation needs:
http://www.smartergrowth.net/anx/ass/library/11/transportation-financing-tysons_090711.pdf
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