DC METRO's Silver Line Financing

[The Davy Crockett]

IMHO Loudon County is 'grandstanding' and the Silver Line will be completed to at least Dulles Airport, but the fat lady hasn't sung yet... Link to Article - And Another...

 

[afigg]

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted 5-4 to approve the Silver Line extension to Dulles Airport and to the 2 stations in Loudoun county. WAMU article. Hope this will put the matter to rest, although the rhetoric and outright fear mongering by the anti Silver Line and anti-transit crowd will take a while to settle down. Now MWAA can proceed and start putting out Phase 2 construction contracts for bid. Although there may be a lawsuit or two to deal with from the anti-transit groups.

So, DC Metro to Dulles Airport by 2017? 2018? Probably 2018 after the delays in getting the funding lined up, getting Loudoun county to agree, and the flaps over the PLA and location of the Dulles Airport station.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Amazing it was that close, but pass it did. The Silver Line ending at Dulles, instead of extending into Loudoun County, would have complicated things fiscally and operationally. But that potential problem seems to be a thing of the past. :excl:

I'm looking forward to my first ride. Maybe for that trip I'll take WMATA's Yellow Line, then ride a street car to the Blue Line at Pentagon City, transferring to the Silver Line at Rosslyn and on to Dulles... Now if only the SSTs were still flying, it would be dinner in Paris. :giggle:

 

[The Davy Crockett]

About half the financing of this project was to be through sharply higher tolls on the Dulles Toll Road. As scheduled, tolls went up on the first of the year and are scheduled to climb even higher next January 1. Needless to say, the people who live and work along the toll road, and the Dulles Greenway, are crying "FOWL!" This has resulted in political pressure to stop or reduce the next scheduled toll increase on the toll road and there has been talk of Virginia buying the Dulles Greenway from its private owner (What could this imply in the long term for The Beltway's brand new privately held HOT lanes? :huh: ) so that the tolls on the Greenway can either be reduced or to keep the tolls from going even higher. Now, according to this article:

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood expressed optimism a federal loan would be approved to help finance the $5.5 billion Silver Line rail project, funding that would help slow down projected toll rate increases on the Dulles Toll Road.

 

[shinkansen]

I'm not surprised it passed, but the big wait and see will remain as to whether usage of the Dulles toll roads will remain constant within the next year of the new rates. I can see by this time a half of year from now, if revenue alls too low, Loudon will back pedal on the surport.

 

[afigg]

About half the financing of this project was to be through sharply higher tolls on the Dulles Toll Road. As scheduled, tolls went up on the first of the year and are scheduled to climb even higher next January 1. Needless to say, the people who live and work along the toll road, and the Dulles Greenway, are crying "FOWL!" This has resulted in political pressure to stop or reduce the next scheduled toll increase on the toll road and there has been talk of Virginia buying the Dulles Greenway from its private owner (What could this imply in the long term for The Beltway's brand new privately held HOT lanes? :huh: ) so that the tolls on the Greenway can either be reduced or to keep the tolls from going even higher. Now, according to this article:

AFAIK, the tolls on the Dulles Greenway are not going to pay the bonds for the Silver Line. The Dulles Toll Road, which is owned and operated by the MWAA, tolls are what will go up to pay part of the cost of Phase 2 of the Silver Line bonds. If the MWAA can get TIFIA backed loans, which would be at low federal treasury rates, that should save a lot of money over the life of the bonds, and keep the tolls from rising so sharply.

The Virginia legislature last year came close to providing $300 million in additional state funds for Phase 2 which would have reduced the bond funding portion of the financing. But it got caught up in North Virginia versus rural red Virginia fight where the rural VA House members blocked the funding as I recall it.

I had not heard about the state buying the Dulles Greenway. That would be interesting as the McDonnell administration has been the major backer behind the privately owned, state backed "Rt 460" toll road project in SE VA and has been pushing the HOT lane toll road project along. I would not be surprised if in a couple of years, the HOT lane owners are unable to meet their bond payments because of insufficient toll revenue and the state ends up coughing up funds to keep the HOT lanes operating.

The good news is that the Phase 1 construction is moving along nicely. I saw the special clearance test car being towed on the elevated tracks in Tysons last month. January 2013 project status newsletter with photos!

 

[The Davy Crockett]

AFAIK, the tolls on the Dulles Greenway are not going to pay the bonds for the Silver Line. The Dulles Toll Road, which is owned and operated by the MWAA, tolls are what will go up to pay part of the cost of Phase 2 of the Silver Line bonds. If the MWAA can get TIFIA backed loans, which would be at low federal treasury rates, that should save a lot of money over the life of the bonds, and keep the tolls from rising so sharply.

I'm guessing here, but I think the idea behind buying the Greenway (must have been named that for how much green it takes to use it) is to try and keep the tolls from going through the roof for people from Loudon County who use it combined with The Toll Road to commute.

The Virginia legislature last year came close to providing $300 million in additional state funds for Phase 2 which would have reduced the bond funding portion of the financing. But it got caught up in North Virginia versus rural red Virginia fight where the rural VA House members blocked the funding as I recall it.

Sigh... I wouldn't be surprised if the clammering from western Fairfax and Loudon gets loud enough this year - or next, as the increases on 1/1/2015 near - that this issue gets revisited. What do you think are the odds?

I had not heard about the state buying the Dulles Greenway. That would be interesting as the McDonnell administration has been the major backer behind the privately owned, state backed "Rt 460" toll road project in SE VA and has been pushing the HOT lane toll road project along. I would not be surprised if in a couple of years, the HOT lane owners are unable to meet their bond payments because of insufficient toll revenue and the state ends up coughing up funds to keep the HOT lanes operating.

I hear you. The early numbers for the I-495 HOT lanes are lower than what had been predicted. One of the big problems I've heard about is that people don't know what lies ahead on the HOT lanes. Imagine paying the toll and then sitting in traffic that is as delayed as the free lanes. That would make me think twice about using them the next time.

The good news is that the Phase 1 construction is moving along nicely. I saw the special clearance test car being towed on the elevated tracks in Tysons last month. January 2013 project status newsletter with photos!

Great photos! It is great to see an (almost) actual Metro car on the tracks. However, speaking of the railcars for the Silver Line.

 

[afigg]

I'm guessing here, but I think the idea behind buying the Greenway (must have been named that for how much green it takes to use it) is to try and keep the tolls from going through the roof for people from Loudon County who use it combined with The Toll Road to commute.
Sigh... I wouldn't be surprised if the clammering from western Fairfax and Loudon gets loud enough this year - or next, as the increases on 1/1/2015 near - that this issue gets revisited. What do you think are the odds?

I hear you. The early numbers for the I-495 HOT lanes are lower than what had been predicted. One of the big problems I've heard about is that people don't know what lies ahead on the HOT lanes. Imagine paying the toll and then sitting in traffic that is as delayed as the free lanes. That would make me think twice about using them the next time.

Yes, the reason for buying the Dulles Greenway may indeed be to lower the tolls so the combined toll on Dulles Toll road and Greenway trips are kept down.

Gov. McDonnell is proposing in his new (seriously flawed IMO) transportation funding plan to provide $300 million in addition to Phase 2. Loudoun Times article on the pitch to Northern VA with the $300 million as a carrot to Fairfax and Loudoun. If VA does end up contributing $300 million more, MWAA qualifies for TIFIA backed bonds, and the construction bids come in below the projected cost, the toll increases for the Toll Road won't hit the scary numbers that were used last year by the opponents of the Silver Line Phase 2 to scare the public.

On the delayed delivery of the 7000 series cars. that does worry me, because that could cause WMATA to delay the opening of Phase 1. WMATA may decide that they can only run service on the Silver Line for a few months without new equipment entering service, not 8 months or more.