Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board of directors and CEO Jack Potter congratulated the Silver Line Phase 2 construction team Wednesday on achieving “operational readiness,” which has launched a final round of testing before the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) begins passenger service on the eagerly awaited Metrorail connection to Washington Dulles International Airport and points beyond.
“The declaration of operational readiness by WMATA is a major milestone that our rail construction team has been working diligently toward for many months,” Potter said, adding that when WMATA opens Phase 2 for passenger service, expected this fall, “it will be the long-awaited day when the vision of ‘Rail to Dulles’ – a vision that goes back to the airport’s earliest days of planning and operations 60 years ago – will finally be a reality,” Potter said.
“In addition to putting both Reagan National and Dulles International airports on the Metro system to better serve our passengers and employees, the Silver Line is bringing enormous benefits to the entire region,” he said. “This large and highly complex project is an enormously important addition to the National Capital Region’s transportation infrastructure, and the Airports Authority is proud to be part of it.”
The Airports Authority is managing construction of the 11.5-mile Phase 2 extension of the regional Metrorail public transit system, which WMATA officials have announced they expect to open for passengers later this year. Phase 2 begins in Reston, Virginia, and ends in Ashburn, Virginia, with a stop at Washington Dulles International Airport. The Airports Authority also managed construction of Phase 1 of the project, which opened in 2014, extending the rail system over 11 miles from East Falls Church, Virginia, to Reston. The Silver Line is one of the largest and most complex public works projects in the nation today.
Phase 2 originally was expected to be completed in 2018 but was delayed by factors including design and construction changes to accommodate newly enacted environmental regulations, changes in project scope and safety requirements, unforeseen conditions during construction such as excessively hard rock in the project’s path, supply chain challenges and the impacts of the COVID pandemic.
“All these issues contributed to extending work on the project by four years beyond original estimates, and this extra time resulted in additional costs for materials and equipment, design work and all the expenses associated with staffing, office operations and related items,” Potter explained, adding that the Airports Authority and its contractors sometimes disagreed on financial responsibilities resulting from the changes and other challenges during construction, all of which were resolved in a contractual process earlier this month.
“Completing that process has allowed us to more accurately estimate the final cost of Phase 2, which we believe will be up to $250 million, or about 9 percent, over the current budget,” Potter said. To accommodate the additional expense, the board approved an increase in the Phase 2 budget, from $2.778 billion to $3.028 billion.
Under the Silver Line’s original funding agreement, the project’s partners – Loudoun and Fairfax counties and the Airports Authority – are responsible for 25 percent of the additional costs (Fairfax 16.1 percent, Loudoun 4.8 percent and the Airports Authority 4.1 percent). Most of the remainder will be covered by revenues from the Dulles Toll Road, but Potter emphasized that the additional cost would not impact toll rates.
“Prudent management by the Airports Authority’s finance team resulted in sufficient reserve funds and financial flexibility to cover this extra cost, so there will be no impact to the previously published toll-rate plan,” he said. “We used a number of financing strategies, including a low-interest federal loan that helped keep toll rates down, along with several bond re-financings during times of low interest rates that significantly reduced our future debt-service costs.”
Separately, the Airports Authority is engaged in a regulatory process to adjust tolls upward beginning January 1, according to a long-standing schedule, but Potter explained that this increase is not related to Wednesday’s budget action on Phase 2.
“The toll adjustment currently under consideration is completely separate from the budget increase on the Silver Line,” he said. “The toll increase that will take effect in January was pre-planned and is needed to ensure that revenues are sufficient to cover existing debt obligations. Let me assure everyone that the Silver Line budget overrun being discussed today will not impact toll rates.”
Board Chairman William Sudow joined Potter in congratulating the Silver Line team for achieving operational readiness and working to address the unexpected issues during construction, as well as the finance team for engineering a strong financial position for the Dulles Toll Road.
“The rail to Dulles project, which includes Phase 1, Phase 2 and a rail maintenance yard, was a very complex project and was particularly challenging, given the complicated involvement of multiple parties and stakeholders,” Sudow said, “When revenue service begins this fall, both of our airports will be connected by rail to the nation’s capital and to the surrounding communities in northern Virginia. For Dulles, it will mean not only less expensive commutes for many of the members of our workforce, but also rail service to Dulles excites many of our airline partners.”
Potter and board members also noted the significance of the Silver Line to economic development and job growth, in addition to its transportation benefits.
“Just drive along the Dulles Toll Road or the Airport Access Highway, and you’ll see all the new office towers and other buildings, with even more under construction,” Potter said. “This project is one of the major things making the Dulles Corridor one of the nation’s leading areas for economic growth and job creation. When passengers begin riding Phase 2 later this year, I’m confident that, in hindsight, we’ll have overwhelming agreement that the Silver Line project has been well worth the investment.”