Last night, there was a meeting in McLean of 100+ supporters of Tysons Tunnel, which is the non-profit advocacy group fighting for a tunnel through Tysons as part of the Dulles Rail project.  www.tysonstunnel.org 

Talk about a dynamic issue ...

We have debated this project in Fairfax for years.  Then the FTA opinion on January 24th essentially killed it by grading the overall rail project as "medium low" for cost-effectiveness and management. 

On April 30th, the letter opinion of Mary Peters resurrected it again, albeit with major strings attached.  As a result of FTA's change of heart, the Feds made available $159M in "New Starts" funding which can be used for non-construction costs, i.e. planning and engineering.  No construction funds are available yet.  But we are back on track to get rail. 

More importantly, the leadership of the nation (and our own Congressional leadership) is in flux, adding another variable to the mix.

With the planning money and a new President to promote transit, this project will get a new infusion of energy.

If it comes back on line, it is critical that the aerial design up Rte 123 and down Rte. 7 thru the heart of Tysons be revisited.  Let me give three reasons why:

1.  With an aerial design, it will be hard if not impossible to develop Tysons as a pedestrian-friendly community.

2.  It will also negate any attempt to achieve a mixed-use density in Tysons.

3.  The construction will tie up traffic in Tysons for years and years. 

If you're familiar with the topography of Tysons, it's easy to see how "the highest point in Fairfax County" lends itself to a tunnel underneath.  By contrast, an elevated rail will dominate the landscape.  And not in a good way. 

It's worth noting that there are no easy answers to this problem.  The Dulles Rail concept has been studied as a regional initiative at least since 1998, when I first joined the NoVA Regional Commission.  (actually, if a Bus Rapid Transit system had been implemented as an intermediate step in 1998, we could have had ten years of transit in the corridor for a fraction of the cost ... but that's another post). 

That's why we don't need to foreclose any options or rush to construction.  This project is going to be built.  Again, if it's feasible to build, then it's feasible to build the tunnel.