Sunday, June 25, 2006
Va.: Federal Officials Begin Audit of Dulles Rail
How much more tax money is Virginia's Dulles Rail project going to cost? The answer to that is not entirely clear, but it seems that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Transportation is taking an interest in that question (and maybe some others).
Read the memo from the OIG here (Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 81 KB).
The Washington Post ran an article by Alec MacGillis on that subject today (click heading for the whole thing).
The first four paragraphs:
The U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general is launching an audit of Virginia's proposed extension of Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, further heightening the already close scrutiny of the $4 billion project.
Although it is not unusual for the inspector general to audit large rail or highway projects, it is less common for the office to start monitoring a project so early, before construction has begun and with major design questions unanswered, federal transportation officials said.
In a letter sent last week to the Federal Transit Administration, the inspector general's office said such a "major project monitoring effort" was needed in this case because of the large amount of federal money expected to be spent on it: roughly $900 million.
Also justifying extra scrutiny, the letter stated, was Virginia's transferal of control of the project to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Because the authority leases its airports from the federal government, the letter states, the authority's role in the rail project gives further reason for the federal government to have a "vested interest in ensuring that the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project is completed efficiently and effectively."
Read the memo from the OIG here (Adobe Acrobat .pdf, 81 KB).
The Washington Post ran an article by Alec MacGillis on that subject today (click heading for the whole thing).
The first four paragraphs:
The U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general is launching an audit of Virginia's proposed extension of Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, further heightening the already close scrutiny of the $4 billion project.
Although it is not unusual for the inspector general to audit large rail or highway projects, it is less common for the office to start monitoring a project so early, before construction has begun and with major design questions unanswered, federal transportation officials said.
In a letter sent last week to the Federal Transit Administration, the inspector general's office said such a "major project monitoring effort" was needed in this case because of the large amount of federal money expected to be spent on it: roughly $900 million.
Also justifying extra scrutiny, the letter stated, was Virginia's transferal of control of the project to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Because the authority leases its airports from the federal government, the letter states, the authority's role in the rail project gives further reason for the federal government to have a "vested interest in ensuring that the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project is completed efficiently and effectively."
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