Metro is not quite ready to take control of the Silver Line, but an
agreement announced Thursday between the transit agency and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority moves the project closer to a summer opening.
The Airports Authority, meanwhile, declared the first first of the
Silver Line substantially complete, a critical step in the process.
Under the agreement between the two agencies, Metro General Manager Richard Sarles
said, MWAA will have some additional time to complete a punch list of
items on the 11.6-mile, $3 billion Silver Line project even after the
line has been turned over to Metro, but prior to the start of passenger
service.
“While there are still outstanding items for the Airports Authority
and their contractor to resolve, today’s agreement allows us to move
this project closer to opening day for our customers by allowing certain
tasks to be completed after the project is in Metro’s control,” Sarles
said in a statement. “We expect that the Airports Authority will
complete the remaining items in a timely fashion, thereby allowing us to
open the line this summer.”
Without the agreement, it is possible the line, which links East
Falls Church with Wiehle Avenue in Reston, would not have been turned
over to Metro control until later in the year.
The "punch list" has 50 items in it, only 7 of which may be completed after WMATA accepts the line from MWAA.
Click here for the rest of this article by Michael Neibauer.
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