Deliberations over using a tunnel or an above-ground rail delayed construction on Metro's extension to Dulles International Airport another year.
The planned 23-mile extension runs through Tysons Corner, Reston, Herndon, Dulles airport and east Loudoun County in Northern Virginia. Construction is expected to break ground anywhere from fall 2007 to early 2008, pending a $9 million "full funding grant agreement" from the state, said Marcia McAllister, communications manager of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project.
The plan will occur in two phases: the first extension will go from the East Falls Church station to Wiehle Avenue in Reston, Va., and the second will run to Dulles Airport.
"We anticipate opening the first phase to service in 2012, and the second phase will be open before 2015," McAllister said.
McAllister said the project was delayed a year because of renewed interest to run the rail through a tunnel instead of on aerial tracks. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, had an independent panel from the American Association of Civil Engineers survey the tunnel plan.
The tunnel would have cost anywhere from $200 million to $600 million more than the aerial track plan, which has a total cost of approximately $4.2 billion. Kaine rejected the tunnel plan in September over cost concerns, and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation resumed work on the extension.
Construction cannot start until Virginia's transportation department gives control of the project to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the agency in charge of Dulles and Ronald Reagan National Airport airport. The switch, requested by MWAA in May, is expected in early spring 2007, McAllister said.
Senior Morgan Corr, who introduced the Colonial Coach program last year as the SA's executive vice president, said getting to Dulles is not an easy undertaking. Corr worked with former SA Senator and alumnus Ben Traverse to develop the project in spring 2005 as a result of their own difficulties getting to the airport.
The planned 23-mile extension runs through Tysons Corner, Reston, Herndon, Dulles airport and east Loudoun County in Northern Virginia. Construction is expected to break ground anywhere from fall 2007 to early 2008, pending a $9 million "full funding grant agreement" from the state, said Marcia McAllister, communications manager of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project.
The plan will occur in two phases: the first extension will go from the East Falls Church station to Wiehle Avenue in Reston, Va., and the second will run to Dulles Airport.
"We anticipate opening the first phase to service in 2012, and the second phase will be open before 2015," McAllister said.
McAllister said the project was delayed a year because of renewed interest to run the rail through a tunnel instead of on aerial tracks. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, had an independent panel from the American Association of Civil Engineers survey the tunnel plan.
The tunnel would have cost anywhere from $200 million to $600 million more than the aerial track plan, which has a total cost of approximately $4.2 billion. Kaine rejected the tunnel plan in September over cost concerns, and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation resumed work on the extension.
Construction cannot start until Virginia's transportation department gives control of the project to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the agency in charge of Dulles and Ronald Reagan National Airport airport. The switch, requested by MWAA in May, is expected in early spring 2007, McAllister said.
Senior Morgan Corr, who introduced the Colonial Coach program last year as the SA's executive vice president, said getting to Dulles is not an easy undertaking. Corr worked with former SA Senator and alumnus Ben Traverse to develop the project in spring 2005 as a result of their own difficulties getting to the airport.
