State Defends Dulles Toll Road Deal

Gov. Kaine, left, wants to ensure the successful completion of the Metro extension, said Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer, right. (Steve Helber - AP)

RICHMOND, May 3 -- The Kaine administration on Wednesday defended its decision to hand over control of the Dulles Toll Road to the regional airports authority, saying the deal will guarantee that Metrorail service is extended to Dulles International Airport.

Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer told a House oversight committee that the agreement Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) signed with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority in March was an important step in ensuring that the region's most important transportation project would be completed on time and on budget. He pointed to the authority's track record of building several complex projects and said the agency was dedicated to extending public transit to the region's busiest airport.

The authority plans to use toll road revenue to finance bonds to pay for the $4 billion, 23-mile rail line. The preliminary deal, which must still go through multiple rounds of negotiations, also calls for the development of special toll lanes that Homer said would ease congestion on the toll road, which helps to link Northern Virginia's outer suburbs to Washington.

"We have the best of both worlds" with the agreement, Homer told the panel, which is composed of six Republicans and two Democrats. "We are getting professional management, financial strength, ability to do the rail project as well as consideration for innovative financing on the highway side," he said.

House Republican leaders have opposed the deal, saying the Kaine administration failed to adequately review competing proposals from four companies that might have been more lucrative for the commonwealth.

They also have said the deal was signed so quickly that it might discourage other companies from participating in projects across the state.

"I just don't understand why we didn't go back to those other four proposers and say . . . 'Look at what MWAA has proposed. What do you four proposers think about that?' " said Del. Leo C. Wardrup (R-Virginia Beach), chairman of the House Transportation Committee.

The oversight committee has no power to scuttle the deal. But Republicans, led by House Speaker William J. Howell (Stafford), hope to pressure the administration to reopen the bidding process.

The unusual deal gives the authority, which is primarily responsible for operating Dulles and Reagan National airports, the ability to set tolls on a major commuter route and to determine the extent of service provided by the rail line, which will go through traffic-choked Tysons Corner.

"The biggest issue is how it was done and how it was handled," Howell said in an interview Wednesday. "It was handled in the dark of night. We have to have General Assembly approval to get rid of a sliver of land. Here's a multibillion-dollar asset that was just given away."

Several Northern Virginia lawmakers rushed to the defense of the deal. Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) said his concerns have generally been assuaged because Kaine helped negotiate a plan to create an advisory council that will monitor the development of the projects and can communicate directly with airports authority officials.

"Is the project arrangement ideal? No," he said. "In an ideal world, these members of the House of Delegates who are [criticizing] the proposal would actually appropriate some money for the project, which they have failed to do. They can't have it both ways."

Federal lawmakers from Northern Virginia also have supported the deal, saying it will help ensure that the rail project is built on time.

"This would get this thing done faster and quicker," said U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), whose district includes part of the Dulles corridor. "Plus it would keep the money in Northern Virginia. Some of the companies are foreign companies -- they are not charitable organizations. These companies are going to get the profits. Why would we want to give these profits to a company in Australia?"