Hey, It's Worth a Look, Bacon's Rebellion, July 16, 2012

James Bacon, who manages the Bacon's Rebellion blog, had this to say about newly discovered excess funds for Dulles rail.  He begins his post . . .

The good news: The McDonnell administration has discovered $5.4 billion in “surplus” bond proceeds to help pay for Dulles Rail. The bad news: Money dribbles in slowly and it’s all there is to pay for Dulles Toll Road improvements over the next four decades. . .

 He notes this about the ways the state can spend the money:

The state has three broad options on what to do with the money: Use it to pay for improvements to the toll road, one of Northern Virginia’s critical transportation arteries; renegotiate bonds to lessen the burden on toll road users, who could wind up paying as much as $8.75 per trip in 2025 and $18.75 by 2048; or return the money to the state. Initially, the surplus will be small, Whirley explained, but enough money could accumulate within a decade to help out toll road users by renegotiating some of the project’s more expensive debt.

Our thoughts:  With the projected DECLINE in toll road usage as a result of the skyrocketing tolls, we don't think that the money needs to go to improve the toll road--and MWAA is responsible for maintaining it.  And for goodness sake, don't return it to the state. 

Applying it against the $17 billion in debt service and operating costs MWAA projects is best way to use the money.  It would lower prospective toll increases by almost one-third--a huge savings over the next four decades. 

There's other good stuff in this post.  Read it here.