No Tunnel For Tysons, Kaine Says

Kaine and others in his administration expressed confidence in recent months that they could find a way to obtain approval for a rail line within those standards. Supporters noted that the panel convened by Kaine had determined that a tunnel would cause only a year's delay and would cost at most $200 million more than an elevated track.

But in recent days, FTA officials and the congressmen drove home just how difficult meeting the standards could be. Davis pointed to one specific new threat: that switching plans could, for technical reasons, effectively annul legislation giving the Dulles line an exemption from new, even stricter standards for transit projects.

Davis said yesterday that the FTA also "did not buy" the engineer panel's cost estimate, noting that it was based on a brief proposal from companies seeking to build a tunnel and not on detailed plans. Federal officials argued that the delay caused by switching plans alone would drive the cost of a tunnel higher because of increased construction costs.

Kaine's aides said yesterday that the governor had been hearing the federal warnings via his staff for some time but did not hear them directly until early last week, when he began a series of one-on-one phone calls and meetings on Capitol Hill.

"The message was, 'We will support you, but be aware that we have done significant heavy lifting to secure these funds and hold on to them. There is a very real downside risk,' " Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall said.

Aides said Kaine was stunned that federal officials would sacrifice the tunnel even if any extra cost were borne by state or private sources. He and lawmakers met with FTA Administrator James Simpson yesterday morning. Simpson was blunt, saying that if they pushed for a tunnel, they were likely to lose any commitment for federal money, according to Hall, who was at the meeting.

Virginia's senior senator, John W. Warner (R), implored Simpson, according to two people at the meeting. But Wolf, who has fought to gain rail money for years, argued against risking the federal funds, at one point banging his fist on the table to make his point.

Kaine and the lawmakers huddled briefly outside the office, where they agreed to issue a joint statement abandoning the tunnel.

Wolf praised the governor afterward. "I commend the governor for his decision. It was a tough decision, a Solomonic decision," he said. "You wouldn't want to roll the dice."

Some tunnel supporters yesterday pointed fingers at the contractors on the project, a consortium of Bechtel and Washington Group International that was threatened with losing at least the Tysons part of the job to companies proposing to build the tunnel. Tunnel supporters said Bechtel has used its considerable clout to block a tunnel. A company spokesman denied the contention.

The track through Tysons will run 35 feet high, on average, and dip briefly below ground at the juncture of Leesburg Pike and Chain Bridge Road. Tunnel supporters, including the largest landowner at Tysons, WestGroup, say an elevated track will make it harder to add a new street grid and build close to the street, both hallmarks of successful urban areas.

"There are just as many risks that the elevated is not going to succeed, because it will inhibit good urban design and ridership," said Stewart Schwartz, director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. "We're talking about a 100-year decision. As a region, we should be a lot bolder than this."

Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D), another tunnel backer, struck a more resigned note.

"We will make [an elevated track] work because we have to," he said. The governor "had a tough decision to make, given the position of the two congressmen and the FTA. We don't live in an ideal world, and we'll make it work."

Staff writer Michael D. Shear contributed to this report.