History
The federal government, which owned and operated Dulles Airport before Congress created the MWAA, built the Dulles Access Road in the 1960s to connect the airport to Washington by way of Interstate 66. As the access road was built, the government opted to reserve the median of the road for some form of rail transit, and the nearby West Falls Church station was designed so that the line could eventually be extended in this direction.
In 1995, the Virginia General Assembly authorized the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to provide for "additional improvements to the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Access Road corridor... including, but not limited to, mass transit, including rail, and capacity-enhancing treatments... from surplus net revenues of the Dulles Toll Road".
In 1998, Raytheon Engineers and Constructors proposed to build and operate a Dulles Corridor Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, while completing final design for the rail extension to the airport. In January 1999, The Tysons-Dulles Corridor Group (led by Bechtel Corporation and West*Group) offered a competing BRT proposal that would ultimately extend the rail line to Route 772. These proposals prompted the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to evaluate the merits of BRT and heavy rail public transit in the corridor.
Local residents and officials had talked of a Metro extension to Dulles since the Washington Metro began service in 1976, but significant planning did not begin until 2000. The Dulles Corridor Rapid Transit Project "scoping" process began in April 2000 with a series of meetings with local and federal officials, designed to collect the necessary authorities for the project. Local and federal law required extensive Analysis of Alternatives – the two most likely being bus lanes or inaction – and of the environmental impact. The rail-only line won over the other alternatives. Initial environmental hearings, which closed on August 28, 2002, were positive. The project received formal approval on June 10, 2004.
In February 2005, the CTB approved a 50 cent increase in the Dulles Toll Road toll rates, effective May 22, 2005, and "reaffirm that no less than 85 percent of existing surplus Dulles Toll Road net revenues shall be dedicated for mass transit and rail in the Corrdor" and provided "that all additional toll revenue generated from the May 22, 2005 toll adjustment shall be dedicated to the Project." Between July 1, 2003, and November 1, 2008, when the toll road was transferred to MWAA, over $138 million in net surplus toll revenue (together with accumulated interest) was provided to MWAA for the Silver Line project.
Read more about this topic: Silver Line (Washington Metro)
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