The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority approved today a multiparty agreement that outlines a new financing arrangement for Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles project. All the key parties chipped in to help reach the estimated $2.8 billion cost.
“This momentous vote guarantees that the most important transportation project in our region’s history will go forward, that we will be able to reduce costs and that drivers who use the Dulles Toll Road will see less steep toll hikes than originally planned,” said Charles Snelling, Chairman of the MWAA board.
Last week United States Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood had forged an agreement in principle to fund the project that, under the original protocol, would have stiffed Dulles Toll Road patrons with rates that could escalate to $20 or more over 20 years. The commonwealth of Virginia would contribute $150 million extra and the federal government would provide loan assistance to help Fairfax County, Loudoun County and the MWAA fund construction projects associated with the extension, such as the building of parking garages.
The Reston2020 blog provides analysis and the text of the Memorandum of Understanding here. The General Assembly must appropriate the state’s $150 million share in the 2012 session. That contribution is less significant than it sounds. Notes the blog:
This money will be used to defray interest costs, not the construction of the Metrorail line, in the five years following the appropriation. In so doing, it will comprises merely 1-2% of the $10-$15 billion total debt servicing cost for the Silver Line over the next 40 years.
The Feds will provide Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan guarantees on up to $30 million. The MOU also contemplates various cost savings, such as reducing the size and scope of the Metrorail shop facilities at the Y-15 site at Dulles airport. Bottom line, concludes Reston2020, toll road users still could wind up with $12 to $13 full tolls by the 2040s, but that’s a lot less than feared and it’s also a long time away.
One sidelight: According to the MOU, “Virginia and MWAA have reached a separate agreement on the matter of Project Labor Agreements for Phase 2. Any Project Labor Agreement contemplated for the Project shall be consistent with applicable Federal statutory and regulatory requirements and Virginia law.” Getting a Project Labor Agreement, or PLA, which requires contractors and/or subcontractors to engage workers through a union hiring hall, was a prime objective of one of MWAA’s board members, Dennis Martire.
The wording of the MOU makes it totally unclear what agreement was reached. Will there be a PLA, or will there not? Inquiring minds would like to know.
— JAB
