Wednesday, December 12, 2012
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will receive award Tuesday from the Dulles Corridor Rail Association.
The Dulles Corridor Rail Association board of directors will present an award to US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at its annual meeting Tuesday in Tysons Corner. LaHood, who stepped in to form a compromise among stakeholders to reduce costs for the Silver Line's Phase 2 in 2011 and to keep Loudoun County from pulling out of the project in 2012, will also be the guest speaker at the event. DCRA Chairman Del. Kenneth Plum and Vice Chairman Del. Tom Rust will present the award to the Secretary, according to a news release. Fairfax County Board Chairman Sharon Bulova will provide welcoming remarks. The Silver Line Phase 1 is on schedule and more than 80 percent completed. It is scheduled to open in December 2013. For more on the …
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Cash ensures Phase 2 will happen.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution that will ensure the continuation of the Dulles Rail extension to Loudoun County. The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is a multiparty agreement that outlines the fiscal responsibilities of federal, state and local entities in the estimated $2.8 billion Phase 2 of the rail project. The Board also approved an agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia addressing the use of a project labor agreement in Phase 2. The Washington Post reported last week that Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) also agreed to bring $150 million to the table to help finance the project. “This momentous vote guarantees that the most important transportation…
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Proposal includes cheaper above-ground airport station plan.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board reversed its course on its plans for an underground station at Dulles International Airport, voting 11-1 Wednesday to accept a proposed plan - featuring the cheaper above-ground station - from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The MWAA board voted in April for the underground station, which would be more convenient for travelers but would increase costs by about $300 million Mame Reiley, chair of MWAA's Dulles Corridor Committee, said on Wednesday she still believes the underground station was the right thing for Dulles. "Although the difference in cost between the two choices has no direct impact on the cost of the tolls, our decision has become a political football," Reiley said in …
Thursday, July 7, 2011
LaHood's July 3 white paper on reducing Dulles Metrorail Phase 2 costs includes aboveground station at airport.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wants Dulles Metrorail stakeholders to cut $1.058 billion from the Phase 2 price tag, and he says that each of the funding partners must make financial sacrifices to keep the project on schedule and affordable. The July 3 white paper presents LaHood's proposal that was crafted after five closed-door meetings since June 1 with the funding partners, including Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board, state elected leaders and officials in Fairfax and Loudoun counties. The second phase extends rail from Reston to Dulles International Airport and eastern Loudoun County. LaHood entered the fray as a mediator on June 1 because tensions among the stakeholders reached an all-time high with MWAA …
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Stakeholders in the rail to Dulles project met Friday.
Stakeholders in the rail to Dulles Airport project met Friday morning for the second time this week to negotiate how to cut Phase 2 of the project's $3.5 billion price tag. The three funding partners of the rail project—Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), Fairfax County and Loudoun County—have less than 30 days to have a financial plan back to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who met with the stakeholders on Thursday. LaHood told the three parties that he wanted them to work together to cut the cost of the second phase. LaHood came in as a mediator as friction grew after MWAA’s controversial decision in April to spend $330 million more for an underground station at Dulles Airport, instead of a cheaper above-ground …
Bob Bruhns
4:57 pm on Friday, December 14, 2012
Mr. LaHood thinks this double-priced rail ripoff is so great, that it should be a model for similar projects across the country. Unfortunately, people actually fall for this nonsense - so the only thing that is likely to stop that from happening, is national bankruptcy, or maybe the sequestration that is cutting MAP-21 funding of Tifia loans, or Virginia's growing bipartsan unwillingness to waste… more ›