The Rail-to-Dulles heavy rail project looks like it is careening toward disaster. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote June 18 on committing to the first installment of the county’s $900 million share of the project — but it has yet to see a copy of the $2.65 billion construction contract! Worse, the price of the contract is good only through June 19, so the supervisors are under intense pressure not to delay their approval.
A number of the supervisors have said they must see a copy of the contract negotiated between the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) and Dulles Transit Partners, the construction entity, before committing county funds. MWAA representatives insist that they will be able to share the contract before June 18. According to Examiner.com:
“If you want this board to move, we’re going to have access to documents or we’re not going to move,” Connolly told Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority General Counsel Ed Faggen.
But even if the MWAA courier delivers a copy this afternooon, Fairfax supervisors will have less than two weeks to read, digest and debate the merits of what assuredly will be a highly complex document.
Especially outraged are supporters of the underground option: running the heavy rail underneath the Tysons Corner segment instead of down the median of Route 7 (Leesburg Pike), as envisioned in the MWAA contract. Tunnel backers believe an aerial route will destroy a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to re-develop Tysons into a walkable, transit-oriented mixed-use district. A June 18 decision would allow no time to reconsider.
Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, attended a board hearing yesterday along with hundreds of other citizens to press their case. Said Schwartz: “I am astounded that Fairfax County’s elected officials have not seen the contract yet and that a gun is being held to their heads to vote on June 18th.”
Toot! Toot! Can you hear the sound of citizens getting railroaded?
