Posted on 08/02/2005 11:12:03 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
The project to extend Metrorail through Tysons Corner would be exempt from new federal cost standards under the transportation bill Congress passed last week, effectively removing a key guideline it would have flunked.
The exemption, tucked into the 321-page legislation, allows the controversial project to win federal funding despite scoring only a "medium low" rating for cost-effectiveness. A recent change in federal standards called for projects to receive a cost-effectiveness rating of "medium" or better.
"It means we don't have to meet the new criteria," said Marcia McAllister, a spokeswoman for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, an arm of the state government. "The same rules for cost-effectiveness that we were subject to last year continue to apply."
Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) inserted the provision. "This is not an exemption to cost-effectiveness standards," said his spokesman, John Ullyot. "Senator Warner wanted to make sure that the rules were not changed on us in the home stretch."
Three other rail projects, in Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Oregon, won the same exemption.
Critics of the project, now estimated to cost as much as $2.4 billion, said the exemption allows an unworthy project to win federal money.
As one of the most expensive proposed rail lines in the country, the Tysons project has been the focus of an almost philosophical battle over the competing virtues of road and rail projects.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
We in Boston laugh at your pitiful attempts ($2.4B) to drain the federal treasury. You could extend the Orange Line to Charleston WV and still not come close to our "big dig" bonanza.
Didn't Big Dig go over 14 Billion Dollars when it was supposed to be 5?
bump
Yes, but never underestimate the power of trying to do any construction in the bizarro world known as Washington, DC. The way land values go up there, that $2.4B could end up being $24B in an eyeblink!
Actually I'm torn on this...the DC suburbs sprawl so badly that they've totally outstripped the ability to access Metro, considering that Metro barely extends outside the Beltway and the biggest growth areas are 20+ miles away. But then, how many of the people who live in places like Herndon and Reston and Vienna and Chantilly and beyond are actually going all the way into DC to work, and how many are working in Tysons and Herndon, where Metro will do them no good?
}:-)4
In Maryland, they are talking about extending the green line all the way to BWI Airport. Now if Virginia do their part by selling the toll road for a billion dollars, the orange line could be extended all the way to the Dulles Airport.
It won't solve the problems of traffic congestion but extension of the metro will relieve it somewhat.
The "Big Dig" was originally a $2.5B project that just kept growing and growing. The latest count has it up to $14.6B but we're talking Massachusetts politics here so there can never be an honest accounting of all the expenses.
I never read the whole story, only having heard parts of it. I know there were some problems building an interstate tunnel underneath Boston but why would it be 12 billions dollars worth? Unless 90% of the federal money is lost to corruption.
They built two tunnels under Boston, another tunnel under a shallow part of Boston harbor crossing a subway line, and a new cable-stayed bridge. And they did it all without disrupting the existing highway. If you can tell me you can judge the correct cost of that without pulling a number out of your ass, you're a liar. ;)
A lot of money did go to install new windows in everyone's home in the North End to compensate for several years of jackhammering and trucks rolling by. But corruption isn't it. Incompetence and a steep learning curve cost far more--no one had ever done anything like this before. So what if Boston will get credit for no one ever trying anything like this again. :)
As another note, that $14.6 billion is the total cost to everyone, much of it borne by Massachusetts drivers and taxpayers, and the federal cost is only part of it. Our state still pays in way more than we get back from Washington every year--something like 21 cents on the dollar goes to states like Oklahoma, New Mexico, Mississippi, or Virginia instead of coming back to us. Even at the height of Tip O'Neill's reign, we barely broke even on our federal contributions. The Big Dig was expensive but traffic flows through the city like a babbling brook, people get to the airport much more easily, and the ugly old el that cut a scar through the city is gone forever. Definitely an improvement.
Like, or through a babbling brook? Did the tunnel(s) fix their leaks?
And the new cable-stayed bridge, was that built in anticipation of global warming, or come winter, will
the cables continue to shed tons of ice onto the vehicles below?
You have to ask HostileTerritory that question, I have never been to Boston.
And the new cable-stayed bridge, was that built in anticipation of global warming, or come winter, will the cables continue to shed tons of ice onto the vehicles below?
The Sky is gonna FALL! I'll tell ya! *sacrasm off*
Well, the state is talking about a possible agreement to sell the toad road for 50 years. After that, it will expire (in theory.)
That settles it. We need to invent the transporter. I don't ever want to use it but I am sure millions of people will. Understandably, there will be some dangers associated with it when the first proto-types are spun up, but we can solve that by using terrorists prisoners of war to test the transporters with. Always kill two birds with one stone when you have the chance!
Try telling that to ACLU.
LOL! Shh! Don't give 'em any ideas! Although, I doubt most of them know where WV is!
Not quite. Clarksburg, WVA is now a bedroom community of Washington, DC.
The ice tinkles down from the bridge in gentle flakes, like a Christmas snowstorm. Do you hate Christmas?
OTOH, it's apropos for what the pols, gov't employees, and unions did to the taxpayers with that boondoggle.
Boondoggles are inherently pointless.
The Big Dig has made traffic much better, improved several connections, and removed an eyesore from the city.
How they did it is not admirable, but the project itself is for the best.
A real boondoggle would be an airport that no one used or a highway leading to nowhere or that bridge they're building in Alaska for billions of dollars.
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