What are the current funding commitments to the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project?
The original plan was that the federal government (through grants from the FTA) would pay 50% of the entire Metrorail Project cost (i.e., both Phases 1 and 2), the Commonwealth would pay 25% using DTR revenues, and local governments would pay 25%. That plan was based on an early cost estimate made a number of years ago and prior to preliminary engineering and environmental studies that resulted in an improved estimate for the total project cost. The Full Funding Agreement with the federal government caps the federal share for Phase 1 of the project (Interstate 66 to Wiehle Avenue) at $900M which necessarily changes the percentages for the partners’ share. At this time, no federal funds have been committed to Phase 2. The current absence of federal funds for Phase 2 has resulted in the DTR taking over the share of Phase 2 costs that the original plan had “assigned” to the federal government. As a result of increases in the estimated project cost and the lack of a federal funding commitm
