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washingtonpost.com
Cost of Tysons Rail Plan Trimmed 25%

By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 11, 2005; B07

Quotes:

Managers of the project to extend Metrorail through Tysons Corner announced yesterday that they have revised their drawings and cut estimated construction costs by 25 percent, reviving prospects for building the financially troubled line.

Engineers said they have reduced the estimated cost of the 11-mile Metrorail extension from $2.4 billion to $1.8 billion by shortening a proposed tunnel through Tysons Corner, altering the "architecturally significant" design of the columns supporting the elevated portions of the track and revising the design of stations.

Neither the extent of the line nor the number and position of stations has changed, the engineers said.

"Our goal was to reduce the costs, not the service," said Sam Carnaggio, project director for the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

The new price still exceeds by $300 million the project's $1.5 billion financing plan, and exactly who would foot the bill for the added expense has not been determined.

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washingtonpost.com
Consortium Offers Toll Road Fixes

By Steven Ginsberg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 7, 2005; PW06

Quotes:

The consortium that has offered Virginia a lump sum of more than $1 billion in exchange for revenue on the Dulles Toll Road for 50 years has outlined 19 upgrades to the highway that it hopes will help sway public opinion in favor of the unusual proposal.

Topping the list are improvements to the ramps that link the eastern end of the toll road to the Capital Beltway. A new ramp would take drivers directly from the Beltway to the Dulles Airport Access Road, a separate roadway that is not part of the proposed deal. A direct link to the access road would allow drivers to avoid cutting across several lanes of traffic on the toll road, a maneuver that causes daily tie-ups.

The group also wants to upgrade the ramps that take drivers from the toll road to the outer loop of the Beltway.

The consortium said it would immediately begin repaving the eight-lane road, a project that it said could be completed in about
four months, and would refurbish several bridges and sound walls along the route.

Most of the other fixes would involve widening or lengthening ramp lanes and converting toll plazas so that fees would be paid electronically, changes that would improve traffic flow by easing backups, the group said.

The proposed upgrades include widening the long westbound exit ramp at Wiehle Avenue as well as the eastbound entry ramp. The exit lane to the ramp at Reston Parkway would be lengthened, and drivers would be able to make a continuous right turn onto the parkway. Other minor improvements for the interchange and parkway also are planned.

A separate loop ramp would be built to connect the southbound lanes of Centreville Road to the eastbound toll road. Entry and exit ramps would be widened at Hunter Mill Road.

Toll plazas at all these intersections would be upgraded and converted so that tolls can be paid electronically.

The Dulles Toll Road is a 14-mile highway connecting the Beltway to the Dulles Greenway, a privately operated toll road that is
not part of the consortium's proposal. The highway is one of Northern Virginia's most-used commuter routes, carrying about 200,000 vehicles a day.

Morning and night, it is filled almost bumper-to-bumper with traffic heading to and from some of the region's largest employment centers at Tysons Corner, Reston and Herndon. The road is also something of a main street for fast-growing communities in eastern Loudoun County and more established areas such as McLean.

Tolls on the road are 50 to 75 cents for two-axle vehicles. Tolls were increased in May to help pay for Virginia's portion of a
proposed Metrorail line through Tysons Corner to Wiehle Avenue. State officials have approved a second increase that would take effect in 2010 to help pay for the extension of that line to Dulles International Airport. State officials said they would maintain control over toll rates by the terms of any deal.

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2005.08.12
BIG MEDIA OBFUSCATION
TOLLROADSnews: Washington Post continues misreporting Dulles Toll Road offer

Quotes:

For a third time the Washington Post has misrepresented the privatization proposal on the Dulles Toll Road as a conventional offer of a lump sum payment for a toll franchise. To the contrary the proposal is to assume some of the costs of constructing a controversial passenger rail line in the median, costs which would otherwise be borne by state and county governments.

Two previous Washington Post reports referred to a mythical "lump sum" offer. Most recently on Aug 7 a third piece under the byline of Steven Ginsberg led off: "The consortium that has offered Virginia a lump sum of more than $1 billion in exchange
for revenue on the Dulles Toll Road for 50 years has outlined 19 upgrades to the highway that it hopes will help sway public opinion in favor of the unusual proposal."

The 19 upgrades in the proposal were not news to anyone who read our report, or indeed to anyone who downloaded the proposal from
the VDOT website, but what merits comment now is that Ginsberg determinedly continues to mislead readers by repeating the falsehood that there is a "lump sum" offer to the state of Virginia.

Nowhere in the proposal lodged with VDOT by Dulles Corridor Mobility Consortium (DCMC) and available on their website is
that suggested. Nor has it been suggested in the press or other presentational materials. The DCMC press release July 27 was headlined: Dulles Corridor Mobility Initiative Offers Private Investment for Toll Road Upgrades and VA's DTR share
of Rail Service Costs," and it went on in the same theme of an offer to fund tollroad upgrades and the rail project.

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