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Wary eyes on Dulles rail project’s bottom line
The Washington Post ^ | October 1, 2011 | Dana Hedgpeth

Posted on 10/01/2011 11:47:06 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

Edited on 10/02/2011 6:53:53 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

The first phase of the Dulles rail project

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; US: Maryland; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: dcmetro; fairfaxcounty; iad; rail

1 posted on 10/01/2011 11:47:08 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

Big hole,, big shovel, loads of tax payers money.


2 posted on 10/02/2011 1:36:07 AM PDT by org.whodat (Just another heartless American, hated by Perry and his fellow democrats.)
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To: org.whodat

But Christie gets criticized for not approving the 5 billion (plus ??) rail-tunnel boondoggle between NJ and NY City.


3 posted on 10/02/2011 2:14:35 AM PDT by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: org.whodat

The Tyson’s Corner part of this extension will likely pay off in some fashion. There’s talk of a massive amount of real estate and apartments going up around this METRO station, with tens of thousands of residents riding METRO from that area. The other part of this extension....to Dulles....is questionable though.

Dulles isn’t exactly an airport that is readily used, and the idea of a METRO arrival at this airport for passengers is also questionable. At present, if you wanted to get there via public transportation....there’s a bus that runs from downtown DC out to the airport about every thirty minutes. It’s not being heavily used. So I would question how the hundreds of millions on Dulles will translate into people getting there.

Adding to the whole mess...most people now expect the bulk of people riding the rail out to Dulles eventually....to be mostly employees of the airport. That’s something that the public has not fully grasped yet.


4 posted on 10/02/2011 2:41:02 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: MinorityRepublican
This article makes it sound as if the Metro isn't already over budget. Let's have some clarity.

Metro, like most transit system, cannot support itself and requires government funds to keep operations going. They are already talking about imposing taxes so high that even the Democrats are bulking. In the end they want more from the feds. This is what your paying for-thanks to the Democrats.
5 posted on 10/02/2011 3:43:20 AM PDT by HarleyD
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To: HarleyD

BTW-I don’t know much about construction projects but there was talk early on about scrapping this. That is when the construction got fast and furious with partial bridges being built all over the place. Talk about bridges to nowhere, VA is it.

I’m not an expert and there may be economy of scale for doing the project like this. But we’re talking large sections undone. I would have thought that one would do one section first and then move on. With incomplete sections of bridges all over the place it almost appears that someone deliberately is trying to see this project continues.


6 posted on 10/02/2011 3:54:39 AM PDT by HarleyD
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To: MinorityRepublican

unforseen expenses = poor planning


7 posted on 10/02/2011 4:51:29 AM PDT by glorgau
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To: glorgau
unforseen expenses = poor planning

I have to disagree. I cite the fact that EVERY large construction project that I have ever heard of has gone over budget and the more politically involved it is, the more leeway it seems to have to bust the budget entirely!

In light of the above, my view is that the planners start with the absolutely most optimistic scenarios possible. While they have to budget weather delays, they choose the least possible. While the project is new, they push building portions of the project that make it 'impossible' to remain unfinished. Once that is accomplished, the cost over-runs start to come in.

8 posted on 10/02/2011 5:15:24 AM PDT by SES1066 (1776 to 2011, 235 years and counting in the GRAND EXPERIMENT!)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Looks like the toll road drivers are getting screwed big-time, again (so much for their money just going for the highway - politicians know a gold mine when they see it). I can’t help but snicker at all of the people that moved out there from the DC area, knowing that they’d be hostage to those toll roads. Likewise, I feel sorry for the long-time residents out there that had nothing to do with it.

We don’t discuss it here, but one of Governor Perry’s biggest goals here was to build a HUGE toll road here in Texas (we’re having too much fun with illegals). It was to be massive, the largest land grab in US history (the right of ways were going to be 1200 feet wide, nearly a quarter mile). Fortunately he was (mostly) stopped. But I have to laugh when people call him a conservative.


9 posted on 10/02/2011 7:33:50 AM PDT by BobL (PLEASE READ: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2657811/posts)
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To: HarleyD
it almost appears that someone deliberately is trying to see this project continues.

Big Dig part II.

10 posted on 10/02/2011 7:42:30 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: HarleyD
eliminating the METRO provision to hire strictly union contractors

They need to go ASAP because METRO is no longer well-known for its stellar safety. Yes, right now it's safer than driving on the Capital Beltway, but due to poor maintenance of the METRO, now one never knows what may happen when a person gets in a train.

11 posted on 10/02/2011 7:47:42 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: pepsionice
there’s a bus that runs from downtown DC out to the airport about every thirty minutes.

That's the Metro 5A Express you're talking about there.

12 posted on 10/02/2011 6:43:28 PM PDT by rabscuttle385 (Live Free or Die)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Possible overruns? Ya know overruns are an absolute certainty.


13 posted on 10/02/2011 6:43:35 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: HarleyD
Tolls will go up from $3.40 round trip to $9.60 on the Greenway to pay for the Metro.

The Greenway is privately owned by an Australian hedge fund, so I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly how tolls on the Greenway are being used to fund the Metro extension. That said, they are nasty now - almost $12 round-trip during "peak" hours (rush hour), and the Dulles Toll Road, which is publicly owned, is a totally different story. Those tolls are being used to fund the Metro extension.

14 posted on 10/02/2011 6:46:47 PM PDT by rabscuttle385 (Live Free or Die)
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To: BobL; bamahead
Looks like the toll road drivers are getting screwed big-time, again (so much for their money just going for the highway - politicians know a gold mine when they see it). I can’t help but snicker at all of the people that moved out there from the DC area, knowing that they’d be hostage to those toll roads. Likewise, I feel sorry for the long-time residents out there that had nothing to do with it.

Thanks for pointing out how I'm getting screwed every day. At least it wasn't as bad as when I lived in Leesburg and commuted to Tysons - I only have to take the Toll Road now and not the Toll Road and the Greenway. (The Greenway is the really pricey segment.)

That said, I'm a long-time resident. My parents got pushed to the outer suburbs years ago because they couldn't afford to buy a home in this area with only one income as prices skyrocketed. So, instead, they got punished twice: once because they could only rent (the tax code privileges home "owners" with mortgage debt), and twice because they had to commute long distances closer in to the city.

The transportation system here in Northern Virginia is a charlie foxtrot - now you know why I hate the DC area and at some point in the next few years will leave.

15 posted on 10/02/2011 6:51:37 PM PDT by rabscuttle385 (Live Free or Die)
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To: MinorityRepublican
These rail threads just aren't the same without Willie Green. I miss his screwy economic beliefs. Remember how he would insist that businesses would spring up around rail stops? He was a big proponent of tasty meals served in the dining car and free wi-fi.

Whereever Willie roams, you know he pushes high speed passenger rail.

16 posted on 10/02/2011 6:57:31 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear (No More RINOs!!!)
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To: rabscuttle385

“Thanks for pointing out how I’m getting screwed every day. At least it wasn’t as bad as when I lived in Leesburg and commuted to Tysons - I only have to take the Toll Road now and not the Toll Road and the Greenway. (The Greenway is the really pricey segment.)”

You’re welcome. I’ve watched the saga and read up on it’s history. From what I could tell, there was some nutcase lady that thought if she built a private toll road beyond Dulles, the people would come. She built it, the road went broke (people will move to an area with bad roads, but they generally will not move to an area that is locked off by a toll road...especially an expensive, private, toll road.

I really started following these things because here in Texas, part of Governor Perry’s original plan was to start tolling our interstate freeways (among lots of other plans with toll roads, some still being imposed on us, unfortunately). He later dropped it...when it was starting to get in the way of his political career, but it started really worrying me. The people in North Indiana got the shaft also when the Governor Daniels sold off the state toll road (I-80) to a private company...which is now starting to turn the screws on the drivers up there (Mitch’s base is Southern Indiana).

I just hate to see the country come to this, given a gas tax increase of a dime pretty much covers all of the deficits that they have to deal with.


17 posted on 10/02/2011 8:28:12 PM PDT by BobL (PLEASE READ: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2657811/posts)
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To: HarleyD
Tolls will go up from $3.40 round trip to $9.60 on the Greenway to pay for the Metro.

That article says nothing about the Metro extension. However, tolls on the DULLES TOLL ROAD are going up to pay for it.

18 posted on 10/02/2011 8:48:09 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (It's the Tea Party's fault!)
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