Loudoun County Joins in Opposition to MWAA Dulles Rail Station Decision

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has voted to authorize Chairman Scott York to sign a joint letter with Fairfax County and the Commonwealth of Virginia expressing "outrage with the April 6, 2011 decision of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Board of Directors regarding the alignment for the proposed Metrorail station at Dulles International Airport."

The letter, also signed by Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova and Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton, asks the MWAA Board to reconsider its decision in favor of an underground rail station at Dulles. The letter is being sent to the Chairman of the MWAA Board, Charles Snelling.

The letter states that the increased costs associated with an underground rail station at Dulles Airport "must be borne solely by MWAA. The funding will not be provided by Loudoun or Fairfax counties, the Commonwealth of Virginia or the Dulles Toll Road."

The letter urges the MWAA Board to continue to work with its funding partners and to continue to evaluate the more cost-effective aerial, or above-ground, station. The selection of the underground station will add approximately $300 million to the project cost and bring the total cost for Phase 2 to $3.5 billion. This will raise Loudoun County’s total contribution to the project to $300 million.

The entire letter is available online at www.loudoun.gov/mwaa-letter.

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