Airports authority selects underground station at Dulles, Fairfax TImes, April 6, 2011

Chosen option costs about $300M more and extends completion date by six months

by Kali Schumitz | Staff Writer

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has opted to proceed with a pricier underground Metrorail station at Washington Dulles International Airport.

After spending a year of considering other, potentially less expensive, alternatives, the authority's Board of Directors voted 9-4 Tuesday to stick with the original plan of putting the new airport rail station underground. . . . .

. . . The underground station will cost about $300 million more and take about six months longer to construct than the main aboveground station option that the committee considered, according to current estimates. This decision, along with other cost refinements made so far, puts the total cost estimate for the second phase of the Dulles rail project at $3.5 billion and pushes the expected completion date to June 2017. . . .

Click here for the rest of the details in this timely and thorough Fairfax Times article.