FTA Administrator on Rail to Dulles: How Wise Are Our "Old Men?"

By: Lowell
Published On: 6/3/2008 6:12:29 AM

Yesterday, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) administrator James S. Simpson delivered a speech at the APTA Rail Conference in San Francisco.  I thought the following remarks, aimed at the rail to Dulles project, were particularly interesting (bolding added by me for emphasis).

It is simply not good policy for the federal government, or anyone else, to make significant investments in new transit capacity if there is no assurance that these assets can be well-maintained over the long haul.

Let me give you a prime example.

As many of you know, under our New Starts program, FTA recently approved entry into Final Design for the first phase of a proposed 23-mile extension of the D.C. Metro out to Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia. This would enlarge the whole system by more than 20 percent.  But Metro's operator, WMATA, faces a $500 million shortfall in the funds needed to make immediate, system-wide repairs on the current legacy system . . . .

The governments of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia are moving toward a plan to ensure WMATA has the necessary resources. . . but this will not be easy to accomplish, and we will be watching closely.

Translation: despite the breathless reporting by the corporate media (hey Amy!), this is not a done deal. In actuality, FTA attached serious conditions to it's (very) conditional approval of the project.  One of those conditions was ensuring sufficient funding to prevent the rest of the Metro system from falling apart.  Simpson mentions $500 million in immediate Metro needs, and I'm fairly certain that number's higher - probably a lot higher - in the long run. Where's that money going to come from?  And if taxpayers aren't willing to cough up $500 million, does that mean the rail to Dulles project is dead? It sure sounds like it from what Administator Simpson's saying.

I'll conclude with Simpson's final words from his speech yesterday, because I would not be surprised if they are directed at Virginia's local (e.g., Gerry Connolly), state (e.g., Gov. Kaine) and federal (e.g., Frank Wolf) political leadership. Unfortunately, the current Commonwealth plan for an aerial structure (with non-competitive bidding) through Tysons Corner is an especially troubling demonstration of short-term thinking on political, rather than practical, timeframes. As you can see in Simpson's remarks below, I think he agrees.

...we should not settle for a public rail system that is second-best behind other nations. Now more than ever, we need leaders willing to make tough and courageous decisions about what it will really take to build and sustain a world-class transportation infrastructure, to keep our economy moving. We need market-based solutions as well as government leadership...I want to leave you a wonderful and inspiring Greek proverb: 'A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.' I truly believe that all the hard work we're doing today to make America's transportation infrastructure
great, will pay off for our children, our grandchildren, and future generations...

The Greek proverb sums it all up extremely well. The question is, how wise are our "old men?"

Comments



Umm... (legacyofmarshall - 6/3/2008 9:40:39 AM)
I know there's no love lost for the WP on the Virginia blogosphere, but let's be fair:

Those responsible for building, operating and paying for the new line face a cold reality: The project could still fail.

-Amy Gardner, 2 May 2008.  She never said it was a "done deal."



Of course she did. (Lowell - 6/3/2008 12:35:24 PM)
The entire thrust of her reporting, including the screaming headline, was that the project was approved.  That's why Scott Monett of TysonsTunnel.com called her out the other night.


Maintenance funding (Teddy - 6/3/2008 11:13:30 AM)
(not to mention operational funding) always seems to catch the politicians by surprise. There is some sort of naive idea that public transit should "pay for itself" or it's not worth undertaking... This flabby idea is another manifestation of "free market" theory carried to its natural conclusion.  Such insistence on self-funding for mass transit forgets how subsidized the construction of long distance rail lines were during the American frontier, and how tax laws and regulations pandered to the success of railroads.

The rigid ideologues of Republicanism will never concede that the social utility of successful multi-modal transportation networks cannot rely on private enterprise to be built, nor, in these times, to be properly maintained without public money. This is especially true when it comes to keeping the cost to consumers (i.e., the bus-riding/metro-riding public) low enough to serve the needs of the working population. Until this realization is accepted and acted upon we will not ever have adequate mass transit or, indeed, an efficient transportation network.  

The business community ought to realize that it is to their benefit to have a transportation system that emables their pool of employees to afford to get to work easily, and, if their business produces a tangible product, a readily available and inexpensive transportation network to transport the goods they produce. Therefore, t-a-x money has to be allocated to create and maintain such a network. Stop this impossible and self-defeating whining about no taxes and get with the program. You know, show some enlightened self-interest.