Uncertainty over the future of the planned Metro Silver Line extension to Dulles International Airport and Loudoun County will be finally over on Wednesday, after months of debate.

 

All parties involved in the project are going to have to make some sacrifices and some compromises if the rail extension to Washington Dulles International Airport is to go ahead.

There has been months of angry debate between Northern Virginia officials and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) over the planning and cost of the Metrorail to Dulles Airport and into Loudoun County.

However, by the end of this week, the future of the project should be decided once and for all.

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has now demanded that the Silver Line's final leg, previously estimated to cost $3.8 billion, must shed $1 billion to be viable.

To do this, both sides - the airports board on one side and Virginia State and local officials on the other - will have to make sacrifices.

For example, it is expected that MWAA will have to concede to building a cheaper overground station as opposed to its preferred option of an underground station - a move that would save the project $404"ëmillion, according to new figures from the Federal Transit Administration.

On the other hand, Fairfax and Loudoun counties, through which the Silver Line will run, would also have to assume millions of dollars in costs they hadn't originally anticipated, which will be paid for by taxpayers and drivers using the Dulles Toll Road.

In return, LaHood's proposal also includes the promise of federal loans for both the localities and the airports board.

LaHood has asked all the parties, including the airport authority, to consider his proposal and return with an answer by 20 July.

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is voting today (19 July) whether to move forward with the proposal, while a board meeting earlier this month in Fairfax revealed "enough support ... to move forward using the proposal as the basis for negotiations," said a spokesman for Chairwoman Sharon Bulova.