According to the Washington Post, "The U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general is launching an audit of Virginia's proposed extension of Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, further heightening the already close scrutiny of the $4 billion project." The DOT audit comes as the project ALREADY has been put on hold, pending results of yet ANOTHER review, this one by Virginia officials trying to figure out what should be a no-brainer: "whether the four-mile stretch through Tysons Corner should run below ground instead of on an elevated track..." [Short answer: Duh, obviously it should run underground through Tysons.]At this rate, I'm starting to wonder if Metro to Dulles will ever be built at all. More broadly, how many more years will Northern Viginia's transportation continue to lag behind the region's population and economic growth? And when will this inaction on transportation infrastructure, caused in large part by hardcore anti-tax Republicans, kill the (Northern Virginia) goose that laid (Virginia's) golden egg?
My prediction? Metro to Dulles finally gets Virginia and Federal approval in 2068 after 182 more unnecssary studies and audits. Unfortunately, by that point, we won't need Metro anymore because we'll all be getting beamed around like on Star Trek, or flying around like on The Jetsons. Either that, or by 2068, the world will have been laid waste and taken over by advanced artificial intelligence machines, a la "The Matrix" or "Terminator." Yeah, I'm (sort of) joking, but who knows at this rate...