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All Agree Tunnel is Best Answer
Administration is Risking 100-Year Mistake on Rail in Tysons Corner

“How can a $200,000 study done over a few weeks by a consultant with conflicts of interest so quickly rule out a viable and competitive option for rail in Tysons Corner?” asked Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.  Carter-Burgess lacks experience with Metrorail, and reportedly did not interview the tunnel engineers and lacked all the information to conduct their review.

“Dulles/Tysons rail is the single largest investment that the region will make on transportation in the foreseeable future, one that will have substantial regional impacts on land use and transportation. Failing to improve Tysons Corner through the right transit and land use design would be one of the biggest failures in the nation,” said Schwartz.

The primary consultant for this study is Carter-Burgess, which earns tens of millions of dollars per year from contracts with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Moreover, Carter-Burgess is currently competing to win the project management contract for the Dulles project.  This study reaches exactly the opposite conclusion to that of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).  But it cannot possibly measure up to the three months of analysis by ASCE’s completely independent professional panel.

“How can they claim a higher cost for the tunnel when the Bechtel price for the elevated has still not been released to the public?  A higher price compared to what?” asked Roger Diedrich of the Sierra Club.  Wrapped in secrecy, the elevated proposal is likely to cost nearly $2.6 billion, far higher than the original $2 to $2.2 billion goal, and higher still than the $1.8 billion original budget for the project.  “VDOT cannot possibly be negotiating from a position of strength in a situation without competitive bidding,” said Schwartz.  The sole-source contracting situation created by the PPTA gives Bechtel/Dulles Transit Partners every reason to lobby at all levels against the tunnel and against a competitive bid. 

The public may never be able to analyze the critical pricing documents for the elevated contract. This shows how Virginia’s Public-Private Transportation Act has created a parallel and distorted procurement process that reduces competition and public review and oversight.

 “The Airports Authority is biased in this process.  Their primary goal is to get rail to Dulles Airport as soon as possible  They have no real interest in ensuring that we build the right system for Tysons Corner,” said Diedrich.  Some Dulles airport boosters have gone so far as to say the rail should bypass Tysons Corner.
“Moreover, we have heard that MWAA is in a rush to get a negotiated contract because they can’t complete the takeover of the project until then, and they can’t get reimbursed for any out of pocket costs until the FFGA is issued,” said Schwartz.  “This adds to the questions we have about the independence of Carter-Burgess and the powerful conflict of interest of MWAA.”

“The risk now is that we will squander billions of dollars because of lost opportunities for urban design and reduced ridership will render the system much less effective.  That would be shameful given that we have a national example of success with a transit tunnel in nearby Arlington,” said Schwartz.
Arlington and the Federal government spent $300 million extra to move the rail from the I-66 right of way to under its commercial corridor.  In today’s dollars the additional cost for the proposed Tysons Tunnel would be much less and, given the fixed price offer from Dragados, the tunnel through Tysons may even be less expensive than Dulles Transit Partners’ aerial version.

“If they could get it right 30 years ago, we can get it right now,” said Schwartz.
 “The study has been biased in favor of one approach and not fairly or fully considered alternatives like the tunnel,” said Diedrich.

“Governor Kaine’s advisors are not serving him well,” said Schwartz. “There is a real possibility that the failure to adopt the tunnel for Tysons Corner will be seen as a 100-year mistake.”  The Federal Transit Administration has made clear that we still have a 15 month window for submission of the project.  “So, once again, we urge the Governor to competitively bid the project and to ensure that proposed bids and prices are available for public review before the state signs any contracts, whether they be for the aerial option or the tunnel option”

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