Another waste of money

Dulles Airport to get underground Metro station

Okay I have never been a fan of Metro to Loudoun County. There are far cheaper options that would be operating now if the Airport authority and the state hadnt insisted we need rail to Dulles airport. At the end of the day thats all the Silver line is - rail to dulles. Something the airport authority has wanted for many many years....

So when the state gave decision making control to the authority you knew this was bound to happen. $330 million dollars so a family going on a trip can save 500 feet of walking???? You could hire a lot of luggage porters for that kinds of cash.

Heres the flaw in these peoples logic:
A) they didnt seem to care when they built a parking garage that far away. Why didnt they build the garage closer?
B) While on the subject of closer - anybody ride the rail the airport built to terminal C? I know... I know its aligned for where terminal C will eventually be built.... they make you walk (probably more than 500 back to the terminal. Since the airport doesnt have any money to build terminal C and i venture to say no airline is going to underwrite it for a long time it seems silly to make people walk back to the terminal for the next 20-30 years.
C) ruin what view - the plan was to put the station next to a concrete parking garage? am I missing something? I guess the 'view' is whats supposed to relax you before you get inside to the mess. I personally dont care what Dulles or any other airport looks like as long as I can get in and through security without taking 2 hours.
D) They spent $330million they dont have. Costs have already escalated substantially and who pays? Toll road commuters.... want a $330 million masterpiece figure out how to pay for it themselves.

Just sayin.....
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By Kafia A. Hosh, Wednesday, April , 8:22 PM
A Metrorail station at Dulles International Airport will be built underground, giving hurried travelers sheltered access near the airport terminal.

But convenience will come at a price.

The station will cost about $330 million more than an aboveground stop, according to a report by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is managing construction of the 23-mile extension of Metrorail from East Falls Church to Ashburn.

The airports authority’s board approved the more expensive underground station Wednesday, even as it faced criticism from state and local funding partners.

Mame Reiley, who chairs the board’s Dulles rail committee, called the aboveground option a “second-class station [at a] first-class airport.”

The underground stop will be closer to the main terminal, about 550 feet away. The aboveground station, next to the north garage, would have been 1,150 feet away.

“If you’re a family, and you’re traveling to India, and you have a lot of kids and a lot of luggage, that’s a long haul,” Reiley said after the vote.

The board voted, 9 to 4, in support of the underground option. The dissenting votes were cast by former Virginia congressman Thomas M. Davis III, Michael L. O’Reilly, Frank M. Conner III and William W. Cobey Jr.

Davis, who was one of the board’s most outspoken critics of an underground station, said he was concerned about its financial impact on Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Fairfax is funding its portion of the rail project with two special tax districts.

“The financial burden on our end falls to our partners,” he said.

Davis also worried that the cost could lead to additional increases in fees on the Dulles Toll Road, where revenues are supposed to pay for more than 50 percent of the rail line. The airports authority approved a three-year schedule of increases in 2009 but would need to hold public hearings before implementing more.

“For a lot of working people, these tolls are the only viable” way of commuting, he said.

The first phase of the extension, which is costing $2.75 billion, connects with the existing rail system near East Falls Church and consists of four stations in Tysons Corner and one at Wiehle Avenue in Reston. It is scheduled to open in 2013.

The second phase would run from Wiehle Avenue to Ashburn in eastern Loudoun. With a Dulles station underground, the second phase is projected to cost $3.5 billion.

Federal, state and local officials criticized the board’s decision, noting the ballooning cost of the second phase, which was originally estimated to be $2.5 billion. The federal government committed $900 million to the first phase but has no funding commitment for the second leg.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), who had requested an audit of the rail project and of the airports authority, said in a statement that, “I am disappointed and share the concerns of state and the local partners. Everything possible needs to be done to keep costs down on this project.”

In a letter to the airports authority, Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean T. Connaughton, also expressed concern about the cost.

“The tunnel alignment, by all accounts, is a more expensive alignment than the aerial option through the airport and will place a heavy financial burden on local funding partners and Dulles Toll Road users,” he wrote.

Fairfax officials have endorsed the less-expensive aboveground option.

Sharon Bulova, chairman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors, said the airports authority should cover the $330 million difference between the aerial and underground stations.

“We’re looking out for our constituents,” she said.

The airports authority board said it would try to find other cost reductions within the rail project, noting that the extra cost of an underground station is about 5 percent of the project’s total price tag.

“To me, that’s a manageable cost,” board member Robert Clarke Brown said.

The underground option will cost $912 million to build and is scheduled to be completed in mid-2017, compared with the aboveground station, which was expected to be finished in late 2016.

Airports officials said the underground option will save up to $330 million compared with an estimate released in September. That estimate had put the second phase’s costs at $3.83 billion and included a planned tunnel and underground station at Dulles airport.

The airport authority’s board then directed staff members to consider alternative locations for a rail stop in an effort to reduce the cost of the second phase. The board debated the merits of four potential sites for the station, before narrowing it down to two choices.

Last month, the board dropped one option for an underground stop leading into the main terminal because of its cost. In January it rejected a proposed outdoor site for the airport station, noting the cost and scope of the project and its potential to ruin views of the terminal, an architecturally significant building designed by Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen.


hoshk@washpost.com

 

Its amazing how such a few people can ram it through and force the majority to pay for it....That's a lot of moohlah, yeah.

 

Good post. I agree that it is a waste of money. The family of 4 still needs to walk the 500 feet. Most likely all the movement would be on the moving walkways anyway so how much is someone really walking between either 1000 or 500 feet.

 

This was helpful, thanks for sharing. Even if they're worried about people having to walk 500 extra feet, they could just put those flat escalator people-mover things in and those too lazy to walk could stand on them for a few mins to get to the terminal. Overall it seems they just want to be able to brag that they have a nice underground station.

 

Beahmer, good post. A lot to agree with in there.

Everytime I go to Dulles, and that is often these days, I think of folks with handicaps. How in the heck are they supposed to get to their gate? Even if you are dropped off in front I suspect you walk at least a half mile to get to where you need to go. Where is the assistance? Does the ADA have some requirement to help folks in need?

$330 M can buy a whole heck of a lot of little carts and drivers. Look at O'Hare they have carts cruising all the time helping people who need it. Other airports do the same. Dulles needs those carts NOW, save the $330, buy the carts now and then also use them when metro arrives. You're going to need them regardless of where the station is.

 

Chairman York spells the fiscal irresponsibility of WMAA's Dulles Rail project during his Fox News interview.

York is spot on and I fully support his statements. An additional $330M for 600 feet is a waste of money but puts a very heavy financial burden on drivers who use the Dulles Toll Road & Dulles Greenway.

IMHO: If WMAA wants and underground rail, they should pay for it, not the drivers/residents of Loudoun Co.


http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/mornings/should-dulles-metrorail-station-be-above-or-below-ground-041911

 

Well said York. You have my vote for the next election.

 

Gotta love it when a politician hits the street:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...ro-to-terminal/2011/04/19/AFQaKj7D_video.html

Ill give Ms Bulova credit for making a point.

7 minutes on the people movers in the hallway to main airport.

If getting to airport was so important - why didnt they build the parking garage right by the terminal???

 

Well, we always park in the garage next to the terminal, but we don't fly very often. The extra expense is worth it to us, with kids and luggage, and usually getting back late at night....