The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s (MWAA) Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project is unique among major heavy rail projects in its manner of funding, Patrick Nowakowski, executive director of MWAA’s Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, said June 7 at the last APTA Transportation Tuesday program for the year. Eighty percent of the total $6.2 billion cost comes from local sources—more than half of that amount from Dulles Toll Road funds pledged for the purchase of bonds.

The breakdown is as follows: $975 million through a federal Full Funding Grant Agreement; $200 million from the state; and, of the remaining funds, 56 percent from tolls; 16.1 percent from Fairfax County; 4.8 percent from Loudoun County; and 4.1 percent in MWAA aviation funds. The federal funds are being used only for the first phase, while Loudoun County is funding only the second phase.

Nowakowski, outgoing chair of the APTA Rail Transit Committee and a past chair of the Commuter Rail Committee, noted that work is about 40 percent complete on the first half of the 23-mile Silver Line corridor in northern Virginia, serving the Tysons Corner area and terminating at Wiehle Avenue in Reston. The second phase of the project, also 11-1/2 miles, will serve Dulles International Airport and continue west.

Most of the stations on the new line will be located in the highly congested Tysons Corner area, he said, adding: “Development is underway around all the Tysons Corner stations despite the slow economy.” He showed slides of the different types of aerial structures being built in the area, describing how construction affects traffic flow on the Capital Beltway and the two major highways serving Tysons. This segment of the route also includes a short tunnel, he said, because Tysons Corner is the highest point in Fairfax County.

“The foundations are in place in the median of the Dulles Toll Road and the project is moving along,” Nowakowski continued. In addition to rail installation and station construction, the project will incorporate pedestrian bridges to connect stations with parking areas on the other side of the highway.

Another major issue the speaker raised is the ongoing question of whether the Metro station at the airport is constructed below or above ground. Both plans reach the same pedestrian tunnel that connects the terminal to a parking garage, but the underground station is closer to the terminal than the elevated structure would be.