2008 Woodie Awards
View print edition front page as a PDF
News
Dulles Metrorail project in doubt over fed funding
By Christopher Cottrell on 1/31/08
Supporters of the proposed Metrorail extension to Washington Dulles International Airport got a short reprieve this week when Transportation Secretary Mary Peters agreed to wait before issuing her decision about whether or not the project would receive federal funding.
The Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, which would give students and travelers a direct public rail route to the airport, experienced a setback last week after Peters and Federal Transit Administration Chief James S. Simpson announced they would not be providing a crucial $900 million in federal tax dollars for the plan, according to The Washington Post.
Thousands of students travel through Dulles every semester. The Metrorail extension would potentially reduce complications associated with changing trains between the Tenleytown-AU Metro station and the airport, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority's Web site.
Currently, students are forced to switch Metrorail lines at least once, and then board a Metrobus. The new project would require students to change trains only once at Metro Center.
Elliot Hardy, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the new Metrorail line would facilitate students' commute between AU and Dulles Airport. The project is overdue, he said.
"They should have done it a long time ago," Hardy said.
Riding the Metro from the airport while carrying luggage is not difficult and costs less than taking a taxi or a van, according to Stephanie Merwin, a sophomore in College of Arts and Sciences.
"I did try other means of transportation, but Metro is the cheapest," Merwin said. "It takes the same amount of time."
In a Jan. 24 letter to Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, D, Simpson cited "cumulative risks and uncertainties," pertaining to the project's swelling costs and administrative inabilities on the part of the project managers, as the reason for denying federal funding for the $5 billion project.
The Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, which would give students and travelers a direct public rail route to the airport, experienced a setback last week after Peters and Federal Transit Administration Chief James S. Simpson announced they would not be providing a crucial $900 million in federal tax dollars for the plan, according to The Washington Post.
Thousands of students travel through Dulles every semester. The Metrorail extension would potentially reduce complications associated with changing trains between the Tenleytown-AU Metro station and the airport, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority's Web site.
Currently, students are forced to switch Metrorail lines at least once, and then board a Metrobus. The new project would require students to change trains only once at Metro Center.
Elliot Hardy, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the new Metrorail line would facilitate students' commute between AU and Dulles Airport. The project is overdue, he said.
"They should have done it a long time ago," Hardy said.
Riding the Metro from the airport while carrying luggage is not difficult and costs less than taking a taxi or a van, according to Stephanie Merwin, a sophomore in College of Arts and Sciences.
"I did try other means of transportation, but Metro is the cheapest," Merwin said. "It takes the same amount of time."
In a Jan. 24 letter to Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, D, Simpson cited "cumulative risks and uncertainties," pertaining to the project's swelling costs and administrative inabilities on the part of the project managers, as the reason for denying federal funding for the $5 billion project.
Be the first to comment on this story