Metrorail to Dulles is being called a transportation plan for Fairfax County. It is not. It is a real estate development plan that is masquerading as a transportation plan. I am not against development, but I am against development at taxpayer expense when this project is being sold to the public as a remedy for our current traffic mess.

By the county’s own admission, rail to Dulles will not reduce traffic congestion anywhere. The current congestion is rated at a level “F,” and, after rail is completed, it will remain at a level “F.”

In fact, congestion will probably get worse due to higher density and development at Tysons Corner and on the Dulles corridor.

On top of this, the cost is a runaway train, originally starting about $1.5 billion, now projected up to $4 billion. Also, the timeline for completion is continuing to push out in the future, 2015 and beyond. We need traffic relief now.

The rail to Dulles advocates say there is nothing we can do to stop this—the train has left the station. Not so. Construction has not started yet. Indeed, money for construction has not been expended.

We need to vocally push to stop rail to Dulles and, instead, replace this massive project with Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)and High Occupancy Toll, or HOT lanes, coupled with reducing and eliminating the tolls on the Dulles Toll Road.

BRT has been shown to be a much more efficient mass transit option than rail, at a fraction of the cost. It has the look and feel of riding a Metro train, including entering and exiting the bus at transfer stations. It can be built much faster to relieve our growing traffic congestion. And it can be added to our existing main thoroughfares all over Fairfax County, again at much lower costs than building a new Metro line through Tysons Corner and out to Dulles Airport.

HOT lanes are going into the western side of the beltway. We should do the same for other main arteries such as I-95, I-66 and routes 28, 29 and 50.

The recent toll increase on the Dulles Toll Road was done to fund Metrorail to Dulles. If we do not need Metro to Dulles, then we do not need the increase or the toll at all. This toll should have been reduced and eliminated years ago. It is time to do that now.

From a homeland and national security standpoint, rail to Dulles does nothing to help. A terrorist attack in or around D.C. would cause our roads to instantly turn into parking lots when everyone leaves their office to get home.

Likewise, rail to Dulles does nothing to address the recent BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) Commission recommendation to move thousands of Department of Defense employees from Crystal City to Fort Belvoir. BRT and HOT lanes could address these concerns with the flexibility to move people and cars much more efficiently.

All this can be and should be done. The rail to Dulles advocates and Tysons Corner developers are putting all their eggs in one basket by selling this as a transportation plan to reduce traffic congestion. It will not. It will only make traffic more unbearable in Fairfax County. Please tell them so.

©Times community papers, 2005