Amid Controversy, Rail Projects Move Forward in Virginia, Maryland
After five years of construction and a long string of controversies, northern Virginia's $5-billion Silver Line rail project hit a major milestone with completion of the 11.6-mile first phase. Built by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) and operated and maintained by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the $2.9-billion segment became operational on July 26, providing a long-sought light-rail extension from the existing Metrorail system to the burgeoning edge city of Tysons Corner, the planned community of Reston and the surrounding suburbs.
But the smooth-riding alternative to the corridor’s traffic congestion belies the Silver Line’s bumpy road to reality. State- and federal-level concerns about MWAA’s ability to manage construction of the region’s largest-ever transportation project nearly cost the project its $900 million in New Starts funding from the Federal Transit Administration, as did fears of cost overruns associated with the original plan to tunnel beneath Tysons Corner.