Feds Approve Critical Element Of Silver Line Financing; TIFIA Loan To Keep Toll Rates Lower

Loudoun County:

“The U.S. Department of Transportation has approved a $1.9 billion low-interest Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project—an action that will lessen rate hikes on the Dulles Toll Road.

It is the largest loan in the TIFIA program's history and will allow the MWAA  to proceed with its construction plans for Phase II of the 23-mile Silver Line extension to Dulles Airport and Ashburn.”

~Writes  Leesburg Today

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Metro could take control of the Silver Line this month

Northern Virginia:

“Metro officials could take over control of the first phase of the Silver Line rail extension this month — a move that could mean train service could start before summer. Dulles Transit Partners, the contractor responsible for building the first phase of the Silver Line rail project submitted documentation on Friday indicating they think they have completed construction and testing of the first phase of the $5.6 billion rail line, officials at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said.

Officials at MWAA, which is overseeing construction of the rail line, which will be built in two phases, now have 15 calendar days to review the paperwork. Metro officials, who will manage and operate the line, also will take part in the review. Both agencies must agree with the contractor’s assessment of its work before the project can move to the next step — up to 90 days of testing and training conducted by Metro officials. It will be up to Metro to determine when passenger service on the rail line will begin.”

~Writes Lori Aratani of the Washington Post

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Four Contractors Vie For Silver Line Rail Yard Complex

Northern Virginia:

“The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority announced today that four construction teams have been approved to bid on the design and construction of the Silver Line rail yard and maintenance facility at Dulles Airport. The teams were selected following based on responses to a request for qualifications. The contractors are:

• Capital Rail Constructors—Clark Construction Group. LL and Kiewit Infrastructure South Co.;
• Hensel Phelps Construction Co.;
• Metrorail Constructors Group JV—Turner Construction Co., Southland Industries, and Freestate Electrical Construction Co.; and
• Skanska USA Southeast Co.

Capital Rail Constructors is the contractor team building Package A of the Silver Line’s Phase 2 extension from Reston to Ashburn. That contract includes construction of the rail line, stations and systems.

The award of the Package B contract, which is expected to cost between $260 million and $280 million, is anticipated in July with completion of the project anticipated in 2018.”

~Writes Leesburg Today

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Metro Planner: R-B Corridor Will Be an Economic ‘Fulcrum’

Northern Virginia:

“Arlington will play a pivotal role in the regional economy with the coming of the Silver Line, suggests Metro planning director Shyam Kannan. Speaking at GMU’s Va. Square campus last week, Kannan said that the Silver Line and development around Tysons Corner will make the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor the economic ‘fulcrum’ of the D.C. area. Development pressure — particularly demand for new apartments and condos — ‘only becomes more pronounced’ with the Silver Line, he said, thanks to our central location between the ‘downtowns’ of the District and Tysons Corner.

That should come as a welcome bit of prognostication for Arlington County, which has been fretting about economic competition with a newly Metro-accessible Tysons Corner. The Silver Line, however, will hasten the necessity to build a second Potomac River crossing between Rosslyn and the District. Already, service adjustments are putting a squeeze on the Blue Line through Rosslyn, reducing train frequency and increasing crowding. Metro envisions building a second Rosslyn Metro station, which will connect with a new Metro line through Georgetown via a second Potomac River tunnel. That will help alleviate the increasingly problematic ‘bottleneck’ between Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom. Kannan acknowledged that overcrowding and frequent equipment breakdowns are a problem, but said Metro is working to solve both.”

~ Writes the Arlington Now

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Metro Garages Pulled From Dulles Rail Project; County To Finalize Federal Funding Application

Loudoun County

“To help ensure that there will be federal funding for the project, the Board of Supervisors last week voted to remove the cost of constructing the three parking garages associated with Loudoun’s stations on Metro’s Silver Line extension, and find another way to finance them.

During 2011 negotiations on the Memorandum of Agreement between local and federal entities on the Metrorail project, the cost of constructing the parking garages was taken out of the Phase 2 construction program in an effort to cut the project’s overall price tag. Loudoun and Fairfax counties agreed to seek alternative funding for the parking garages, including forming public-private partnerships with area landowners and developers, or paying for them through local capital project budgets. If the funding could not be found, the costs would revert to the overall Metro project.

In meetings with the U.S. Department of Transportation this summer to discuss the potential to secure additional funding through the federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or TIFIA, to help offset the overall costs of the Metro construction project, the federal agency told Loudoun representatives the final decision to remove the garages would have to be made before the application could be submitted.”

~Writes Erika Jacobson Moore of Leesburg Today

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