A Debate Over What Revived Dulles Rail
U.S. Cites Changes; Others See Politics

By Amy Gardner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 5, 2008; B01

U.S transportation officials say they reversed their position last week on the proposed extension of Metrorail to Dulles International Airport because Virginia officials and the people overseeing the project made significant enough changes to make it viable.

But many others close to the proceedings say the project actually changed very little.

These political and business leaders credit the Federal Transit Administration for a willingness to revisit the details of Dulles rail, but they also believe that intense political pressure from Congress, the business community and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) forced the agency to renegotiate.

"It wouldn't have gotten kicked upstairs," said William D. Lecos, president of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. "All of a sudden there was a tidal wave of, 'Hey, what are you doing?' It went up to [U.S. Transportation Secretary] Mary Peters's level. That bought us time."

Federal officials, led by transit administration chief James S. Simpson, said last week that politics did not enter into their deliberations in the three months since late January, when he and Peters declared the rail project unqualified for federal funding. Simpson said Virginia and the agency responsible for overseeing the proposal, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority , worked diligently during that time to answer the FTA's questions, address its concerns and improve the project.

As an example, Simpson cited the FTA's demand to set aside a $200 million reserve in case the $5 billion project's cost creeps up. Other examples in clude more than $200 million in project cuts, agreement from the airports authority to hire more staff to manage the project, a new willingness to avoid too much borrowing of federal transportation funds, and new documentation that the Dulles Toll Road will bring in sufficient receipts to help pay construction costs.

"It's not the same project," Simpson said. "It's really improved. We have a program here that's pass or fail. They're passing on everything now."

Some rail boosters said the last three months have forced the airports authority and Virginia to improve the project.

"They made them dot all the i's and cross all the t's," said Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), whose district encompasses much of the new route. "It may well be a better project. A tighter project. Everything has been looked at."

Others, however, say several of the conditions had already been met or could have been met easily. Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr., for example, will propose next week that the agency defer projects in the agency's current capital improvement program and use the money for the more urgent repairs identified by the FTA.

Metro was planning the shift anyway, several officials said.

Similarly, the FTA's requirement that project sponsors borrow less through the federal government will require more expensive borrowing, analysts said.

"I don't think they're unreasonable concern s, but I do believe frankly that we have addressed them," said Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

If anything, Connolly and others said, the enormous political pressure that came down on the Bush administration after the January announcement forced Virginia to more carefully document project details -- and forced the FTA to look more closely.

"I think Mary Peters personally made it her business to look at what we provided," Connolly said. "And she became increasingly impressed that we in fact had met their thresholds. They didn't just look at it and say, 'Okay.' They actually improved the grade in every category in their review."

Certainly the lobbying effort was strong. Landowners in Tysons Corner, many of them federal contractors with relationships in Congress and at the White House, contacted scores of officials to encourage approval of the project. Lecos, head of the Fairfax County chamber, orchestrated 110,000 phone calls into Northern Virginia households, prompting as many as 5,000 phone calls to the White House, he said.

And members of the Greater Washington Board of Trade targeted "anyone who had a White House badge," said the group's president, James C. Dinegar. They took every chance to press their case, from back-fence chats to supermarket run-ins to hand-pressing after Sunday church services.

Such lobbying efforts came on top of the public pronouncements of Republican and Democratic congressional leaders on the importance of rail to Dulles. House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) met with Peters twice since January, congressional leaders said.

The biggest push came through intensive behind-the-scenes maneuverings of three elected officials in Virginia: Kaine, Wolf and Sen. John W. Warner (R).

"The governor and the secretary basically on their own initiatives decided to sit down quietly, sometimes without any staff whatsoever, and just talk through this situation," said Warner, who first asked Peters in February to become involved.

Last week's announcement that Dulles rail may proceed to final design has revived speculation that political and ideological considerations, including the Bush administration's preference for privately funded transit projects, were at work when Dulles rail nearly died in January. Some rail boosters even warned administration officials that such motivations could backfire on Republicans.

"It was pointed out to folks," Lecos said, "that failure of a project that has the kind of support that Dulles rail has would have political consequences for any individual or party that was associated with that."

White House officials said they monitored the Dulles Rail negotiations but never got involved and left the decision up to Peters.

Phase I of the Dulles Rail project calls for the construction of a "Silver Line" from the East Falls Church station in Arlington County to Wiehle Avenue in Reston. Phase II, with a scheduled completion date of 2015, will extend from Reston to the airport and into Loudoun County.

Money for the project includes an expected federal share of $900 million, funds from two special taxing districts along the proposed rail line and revenue from the Dulles Toll Road.

Staff writers Dan Eggen, Michael Laris and Lena H. Sun contributed to this report.