WMATA photo courtesy of Larry Levine

WMATA Metrorail Extension to Washington Dulles International Airport

When Washington Dulles International Airport was being designed in the 1950’s, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decided to construct a highway from the airport to Interstate 66 and the Capital Beltway. In 1964, four years before the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area’s public transit authority was even created, the FAA wisely reserved the median of the airport access highway for a future transit line.
 

After over four decades of planning, the construction of that transit line is poised to begin soon and Lea+Elliott is a member of the program management team that will be driving it toward completion.

The 23-mile Metrorail extension represents a 22 percent increase in the length of the current system. The new extension will tie Washington Dulles International Airport to the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area, including nearby Tysons Corner - the largest employment center in Virginia. Due to the project’s scale, it has been broken into two phases. Phase 1, estimated at over $2.5 billion, includes five stations and extends the system 11.6 miles. Phase 2 will follow soon after Phase 1 and will take the line another 11.5 miles to Dulles airport and beyond, into Loudoun County. The first phase of the project will be designed and constructed by Dulles Transit Partners under a design-build contract through the authorization of the Virginia Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995.

Engaged as a key member of the program management team, Lea+Elliott is leading the systems engineering, planning management and FTA readiness areas. The program management team works on behalf of the owner, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (the Airports Authority), to ensure that the overall procurement, design, construction, and commissioning adheres to the agreed-upon budget, work scope and schedule. The team also supports the Airports Authority in its relationships with the public and stakeholder agencies, such as the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transit (VDRPT), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), and Fairfax County.

Systems management is being led by Lea+Elliott’s Philip Castellana. He leads the team’s efforts relative to all systems engineering and rapid transit vehicle engineering issues. These responsibilities include: design and installation of the train control, traction power, communications, and track subsystems; systems integration; system safety and security; system testing and commissioning; and preparation for the start of the operations and maintenance phase.

The new system will be turned over to WMATA when construction and testing is complete and the extension is ready to carry passengers. Philip’s team is also working closely with WMATA as it prepares to purchase railcars, fare collection equipment and maintenance vehicles for the new line.
Planning management efforts are being led by Lea+Elliott’s Larry Miller, P.E., including critical support functions such as risk assessment and mitigation, FTA readiness, agency coordination, congestion management, permitting, right-of-way acquisition, property management, environmental reviews, and value engineering. Most recently, Miller’s team has been working closely with the FTA in the development of a risk register that identifies and then mitigates high risk items related to the project schedule and budget.

Lea+Elliott’s Michele Jacobson, AICP has been leading the area of FTA readiness, helping the Airports Authority establish itself as a new FTA grant recipient. The original project sponsor, VDRPT, is handing the project off to the Airports Authority, making the Airports Authority the recipient of a $900 million grant from FTA to build one of the largest transit projects in the United States. Her responsibilities include the preparation of FTA applications for the project to advance into final design and ultimately receive its Full Funding Grant Agreement. Her team also reviews the designs for stations and facilities and monitors land use permit applications with a focus on the compliance of the design with the final environmental impact statement and Record of Decision.
 

Under the current schedule, critical milestones include: the start of utility relocations in September 2007, approval to enter final design in late 2007, and starting full construction in 2008.

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