McDonnell Wants MWAA to Reverse Decision on Metro Station Location at Dulles Airport

Gov. Bob McDonnell sent a letter to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority today asking its board of directors to reconsider its decision to pursue a tunnel and underground station for the Metro at the Dulles International Airport.

The Commonwealth of Virginia and both Fairfax and Loudoun counties have said they are unhappy with the decision to spend an extra $300 million to build a tunnel for the Metro at the airport. 

“The tunnel alignment has, by all accounts, been shown to be the much more expensive alignment through the airport, costing hundreds of millions more than the aerial alignment with relatively minimal positive logistical or aesthetic benefit,” McDonnell wrote. “Taxpayers in Northern Virginia will bear the burden of this significant cost difference, which will make it difficult to achieve the Commonwealth’s goal of reaching a total project cost close to the original $2.5 billion.”

“I, along with the project’s local government funding partners in the town of Herndon, and Loudoun and Fairfax counties, are very surprised and disappointed in the MWAA board’s very costly decision and hope that upon further reflection, the board would come to the more fiscally sound decision to pursue the aerial alignment,” McDonnell wrote.

MWAA’s board chose to pursue the tunnel option for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project at a meeting in early April. On April 18 Fairfax and Loudoun counties and Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton sent a letter to MWAA expressing their “outrage” over the decision. The letter also threatened to withhold their portion of funding unless the MWAA board reconsiders.

“To state our position very clearly, we cannot and will not fund the additional cost of the tunnel alternative in Dulles Airport when a less expensive alternative can be constructed with less risk and in a shorter period of time,” the letter read. “We are perplexed as to why the MWAA Board of Directors ignored its funding partners and made these decisions in isolation.”

The Commonwealth of Virginia transferred operations and maintenance responsibilities of the Dulles Toll Road from the Virginia Department of Transportation to MWAA to help finance the cost of the project in March 2008.

“The Commonwealth asked MWAA to ensure the most cost effective construction for Phase 2 of the project, and the decision to pursue a tunnel alignment raises concerns about MWAA’s commitment to the Commonwealth to ensure cost sensitive leadership,” said Connaughton. “The costly tunnel alignment will place a heavy financial burden on local funding partners and Dulles Toll Road users.”

The Dulles Corridor Metro Project will extend the existing Metrorail system from the East Falls Church station on the Orange Line through Tysons Corner in Fairfax County, to the Dulles International Airport and beyond into Loudoun County.