The extension of Washington D.C.’s Metro to the Dulles Airport will finally move forward after years in limbo. The Virginia Dept. of Rail and Public Transportation announced today that it will enter into a $1.6 billion design-build contract with Dulles Transit Partners, LLC, a joint venture between Bechtel, San Francisco, and Washington Group International, Boise, Idaho, for the final design and construction of Phase 1 of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project.
Phase 1 consists of 11.6 miles that will extend the Metro into Loudoun County, Virginia. VDRPT will use negotiated price with DTP to submit its request to enter final design in May to the Federal Transit Administration in hopes of receiving a Full Funding Grant Agreement by early 2008. The agreement with DTP makes the total cost of Phase 1 between $2.4 billion and $2.7 billion, a total that keeps it eligible for $900 million in federal funding according to cost effectiveness standards. “Today’s agreement marks the culmination of more than a decade of planning, environmental review and engineering work to advance the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, and it brings us closer to our goal of achieving a Full Funding Grant Agreement,” said DRPT Director Matthew Tucker.