Dulles rail

Bond Buyer news gave their "Deal of the Year Award" to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) for using the revenues of the Dulles Toll Road to bond a metrorail transit line out to the airport and beyond into sparsely settled Loudoun County.

The proposed transfer of the Dulles Toll Road (DTR) from the control of Virginia DOT to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is in doubt following a court victory by opponents. The state supreme court in Richmond today in a 19 page opinion overturned a lower court ruling that the transfer was protected from challenge by a doctrine of sovereign immunity.

Paul Weyrich gets space in the Washington Post this morning (Mar 2 B08) with erroneous objections to road based transit in the Dulles Toll Road/Greenway corridor.

Weyrich's claims are quoted in full followed by answers (A)

The Virginia Supreme Court has blocked regional transportation funding powers legislated last year saying the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) cannot be granted revenue raising powers reserved by the state constitution to the General Assembly or to directly elected bodies. This immediately invalidates another funding source previously relied on for the Dulles metrorail project planned in the median of the Dulles Toll Road.

by Kenneth Orski: Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is upset that the Federal Transit Administration turned down funding for Tysons-Dulles heavy rail. But the project had more red flags than a bull-fighting ring.

The Feds have turned down the request from Virginia politicians for financial support for the controversial $5 billion Dulles Rail project proposed for the median of the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Greenway. US Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters told the Virginia governor Timothy Kaine and other northern Virginia politicians today in a meeting on Capitol Hill today.

Virginia House speaker William Howell says the Dulles Rail project proposed for the median of the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Greenway is an "incredible waste of money" and may actually worsen traffic conditions in northern Virginia by encouraging higher density development. Future ownership of the Dulles Toll Road is at stake in the controversy over the $5 billion rail project.