Where will money be found for Wakefield, Yorktown, Long Bridge and the Columbia Pike Streetcar?
Arguably, these four are the biggest capital projects currently on the County’s docket. With the County facing declining revenue and with the bond markets nose-diving, it seems more and more likely that at least one of these projects will be delayed or abandoned. When addressing the County’s budget shortfall earlier this fall, County Manager Ron Carlee said that any capital projects the County hasn’t already paid for could be subject to review. Of the four projects, the construction of a new Yorktown High School seems like the least likely candidate for a delay because it is already partially funded. The installation of a streetcar along Columbia Pike also seems unlikely to be cancelled because several million dollars in state transportation funding has already been allocated for the project. That leaves the construction of a new Wakefield High School or the construction of an athletic and aquatics center at the Long Bridge site in Crystal City. The Long Bridge project relies on a land
