Loudoun says it's in the dark on Silver Line despite $300M investment, Washington Business Journal, June 17, 2014

Michael Neibauer writes:

When it comes to the Silver Line project, even a $300 million investment isn’t enough to get answers.

Loudoun County will pay for more than 10 percent of the $2.778 billion extension of the Silver Line from Reston to Ashburn — or 4.8 percent of the $5.7 billion combined Phase 1 and Phase 2 price tag. But the county has very little role in, or even knowledge of, the project itself, according to a staff report. That includes major decisions such as schedule, cost and design changes. . .

The frustration bubbled to the surface in late April, when MWAA publicly announced that stormwater management and technical design changes would delay the opening of the 11.4-mile Silver Line Phase 2 by roughly 13 months.   (Reston 20/20 note:  And we have learned since that the stormwater issue accounts for only one month of the 13-month delay.)

The decisions were all made, Loudoun staff says, by MWAA and contractor Capital Rail Constructors (led by Clark Construction Group LLC and Kiewit Infrastructure South Co.) during a “six-month effort of schedule development and negotiations” in which neither Loudoun nor Fairfax had any role. Loudoun received a revised schedule in mid-May, indicating a late 2019 or early 2020 launch for passenger service, but it still has not been provided a new cost estimate or any word of the increased construction costs resulting from the design changes. . .

Both Loudoun and Fairfax, according to Loudoun staff, “were again excluded from schedule impact discussions” between MWAA and its contractor, the development of a revised schedule, and ongoing discussions regarded additional costs resulting from the massive stormwater management redesign. . . .

Click here for the rest of Mr. Neibauer's article.