Dulles rail

2012-10-11: A major clash has erupted between the Dulles Toll Road operator Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) and US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

US secretary of transport Ray LaHood has appointed Kimberley Moore a USDOT staff attorney as an "accountability officer" to monitor the activities of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) in its management of construction of a new $6 billion-plus metrorail line from the Dulles Toll Road out into distant Loudoun County.

The appointment is most unusual and seems to be a response to calls from the local Congressman Frank Wolf.

David LaRock of the Opt Out movement for the end of the line has a new presentation of the case for keeping rail out of the Dulles Greenway. The decision is up to Loudoun County commissioners who could vote on the issue within a month.

The group argues the list of potential harms and risk are substantial, but the benefit of opting out and allowing rail to come to Rt 28 (the edge of the county) is also substantial.

After four hours of debate among Loudoun County commissioners Monday night it is looking less likely there is a majority for extensions of the Dulles Metrorail line into the median of the Dulles Greenway beyond Dulles Airport.

County commissioners met to decide how to raise the $270m required of the County to 'opt-in' to Phase 2 of the project which is majority funded with revenue bonds on the Dulles Toll Road.

Traffic consultants Patton Harris Rust Associates (PHRA) in modeling done for Loudoun County Virginia find that the struggling Dulles Greenway would benefit significantly if the Metrorail line were terminated at the end of the Dulles Toll Road at Washington Dulles Airport.

2012-06-06: The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority after nearly two years of insisting on union-preferences in its construction contracts today executed an abrupt policy U-turn, voting 11 to 1 to go to procurement without the favor for unions - termed a 'project labor agreement' (PLA.)

Decisions on the future of the toll-financed Phase 2 of Dulles Metrorail project now rest with Loudoun County, closer-in Fairfax County having given the go-ahead.

A major legal challenge to the Dulles Toll Road's financing of a metro rail line moves into the US Court of Appeals with the filing of a closely argued brief by opponents. An American University law professor John Corr and a Loudoun county activist John Grigsby are the plaintiffs in the case against the Dulles Toll Road operator Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA or Em-wah as it is known locally).

Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says he's urging state legislators not to appropriate another $150m for Phase 2 of the Dulles Rail project sponsored by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA).

An agreement on financing the second half of a $6 billion+ Dulles rail line still relies heavily on huge projected profits at the Dulles Toll Road in northern Virginia.