Transportation Projects Hit Roadblock in Virginia

An artist's rendering of the aboveground Metrorail track at Tysons Corner. The Federal Transit Administration questions the cost of the long-delayed project. (Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project)

According to the Associated General Contractors of America, federal statistics show that the cost of road and highway construction materials rose 49 percent from December 2003 through January 2008, while consumer inflation increased 14.5 percent.

Fairfax County has been trying to rebuild the intersection of Route 29 and Gallows Road for more than two decades. As soon as funds are allocated, however, the price goes up and the plan is shelved until more money can be raised.

"It's a vicious cycle," Connolly said.

Even large infusions of cash seem unable to make a dent in the backlog, a problem affecting the entire region.

Maryland last year raised more than $400 million for transportation, but most of the money is being gobbled up by maintenance and backlogged projects. The state isn't adding a single major project to the regional transportation plan this year.

That doesn't mean that all transportation projects have ground to a halt. Several are under construction or about to begin.

Ronaldo T. "Nick" Nicholson, the VDOT official charged with coordinating the region's largest projects, said he has plenty to keep him busy.

"I'm still coordinating rail to Tysons," Nicholson said.

The Federal Transit Administration has not issued a final decision but has made it clear that it is leaning against funding $900 million of the ambitious $5 billion rail extension, questioning the overall cost of the long-delayed project and whether the regional airports authority has enough experience to get the job done.

Work also is proceeding on the $2.5 billion Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which includes a twin-span drawbridge and four interchanges. This month, work is starting on widening Interstate 95 south of Springfield. And there are two public-private projects that would build high-occupancy-toll (HOT) lanes on the Virginia portion of the Capital Beltway and convert two existing carpool lanes on Interstates 95/395 into three HOT lanes to the Pentagon.

Reese said that although work is continuing on the region's interstate system, getting commuters on and off the highways will be much harder. Much of the money that would have been spent by the authority and VDOT's six-year plan would have targeted the series of clogged arterial and secondary roads that feed into interstates or express lanes.

For example, the NVTA had budgeted $26 million for a Fairfax County Parkway-Fair Lakes interchange that would eliminate a daily nightmare for thousands of commuters.

Now the region waits.

"Our fate is in the hands of folks in other places: Richmond and Washington and the White House," Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman said he fears Northern Virginia is getting a reputation among national business leaders as a place increasingly mired in gridlock, without the political will to dig itself out.

"There are going to be economic cycles. The question is whether you rebound," Zimmerman said. "Or at what point do you become yesterday's news and people start looking elsewhere?"