Opponents of the Dulles Metrorail extension attempted to launch a tangled bouquet of multicolored balloons into the air recently in Tysons Corner, to illustrate the rising cost of the project and revive a movement to stop it.
Talking over the sounds of sirens and trucks passing by on Route 7, a half-dozen community activists and current and former elected officials gathered on the oil-stained lot behind a Best Western hotel to argue -- once again -- that the rail project would cost too much, benefit too few people and ultimately do nothing to help congestion in the area.
The estimated cost to extend Metrorail through Tysons Corner on its way toward Dulles International Airport has jumped by 60 percent, to $2.4 billion, and opponents hope that news will serve as additional ammunition in their difficult battle against the plan.
"The price increase is a blessing to the people of Fairfax," said state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli (R-Fairfax). He said the jump, from the previous estimate of $1.5 billion, will prove to the public that the rail extension is "a boondoggle."
"We can still stop this project," Cuccinelli said.
The group called for another environmental impact review, preferably by an independent commission, that would evaluate new design proposals and examine alternative uses for transportation funding. The opponents said decisions about spending for the project should be made by voters.
Cuccinelli promised to bring a bill before the 2006 General Assembly that would require Fairfax County and the state to get approval from voters through a referendum before either sets aside funding for the rail system's operation.
"All we've talked about is the cost of building," Cuccinelli said. "If God dropped it down tomorrow, everyone in Fairfax would have to pay higher taxes to subsidize the operations."
Many government and civic leaders in Northern Virginia consider the rail project a top priority. They say that without it, traffic will become worse in one of the nation's most heavily congested regions and economic growth will slow. In February, when Virginia agreed to a fee increase on the Dulles Toll Road to support the project, then-Secretary of Transportation Whittington W. Clement said: "The region clearly needs this project. Major roadways in the corridor are nearing gridlock. The problem won't go away, and we must address it."
According to a carefully negotiated financing plan for the rail's construction, the federal government would pay about half the project's cost and the other half would be split, about a quarter coming from collections on the Dulles Toll Road and other state revenue, and about a quarter from commercial property owners along the rail route who have agreed to pay a special real estate tax.
The project's engineers have proposed design alterations that could lessen the cost increase, including replacing a proposed tunnel beneath Tysons Corner with an aboveground and sometimes elevated rail. Opponents argued that many of the changes could make the project less desirable.
"Imagine pillars along this whole street," said Audrey Moore, a Democrat who served as chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
