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Herndon, who would pay a special tax to help foot the bill, have expressed concerns about the commitment of building all the way out the corridor. The investment group hopes to “buck up” those parties by making an early investment in phase two construction.
Coward said the group has factored in a small margin of increase for the toll road’s $305 million commitment to phase one given a recent jump in the cost estimate, but he said state transit officials still must bring the price tag down significantly if the project is to be built at all.
Originally pegged at $1.5 billion, the cost estimate now ranges from $1.7 billion to $2.4 billion, which far exceeds a cost effectiveness standard set out by the Federal Transit Administration, which has been asked to pay half the costs.
State officials expect to identify enough cuts to trim the latest estimate closer to the original target by the middle or end of next month.
Rates on the toll road will remain at their current level until it comes time for another increase to help fund the rest of the second phase of Metro expansion. Any increases that occur once all rail commitments are paid off would likely be tied to some sort of consumer price index, Coward said.
The Dulles Toll Road currently ranks among the cheapest fee-based facilities in the nation, and it will remain at or near the bottom of the scale “under any conceivable scenario,” Coward said.
The consortium proposing this partnership boasts some of the biggest names in transportation both locally and internationally. It includes former Gov. Gerald Baliles, a partner with the law firm Hunton and Williams, and is headed by Italian-based Autostrade, the largest toll road operator in the world, and British firm John Laing, one of the leading infrastructure investment companies in Europe.
Autostrade already has a local presence, operating the Dulles Greenway, the 14-mile extension from the toll road out to Leesburg.
Aside from the rail investments, the private proposal differs from the state’s current plan by chipping in almost three dozen road improvements over the life of the agreement.
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