An artist's rendering of above-ground Metrorail track through Tysons Corner. Image courtesy Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project

IMAGINE YOU HAD a beloved family dog. It had lived a long, long life, and it brought your family joy — even if it sometimes spawned an argument or two about whether it ought to be digging in the yard.

Earlier this year, the dog died. You had a funeral for it. You buried it in the yard. You grieved for it. Then, months later, it appeared at your doorstep, wagging its tail and looking for dinner.

That must be how it feels to be someone who worked on the project to extend Metrorail to Dulles Airport. Earlier today, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, in a stunning turnabout, told officials that the federal government would allow the project to move into a final design phase, The Post's Amy Gardner and Lena H. Sun report.

The effort had been brought to a standstill in January, when federal officials cited a laundry list of concerns — rising costs, the ability of the Metro system to integrate the 23 miles of new territory, the ability of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to manage the construction — to support their decision not to provide $900 million in federal funding that was the oxygen the project needed to survive.

Metro to Dulles was dead. So dead that Tysons Tunnel, the tenacious group of residents and businesspeople who opposed the plan because it would snake aboveground track through Tysons Corner, withdrew its federal lawsuit seeking to block the project.

That kind of dead.

Its resurrection has set keyboards a-clacking around the area.

One of them was attached to the computer of Chris Zimmerman, chairman of the Metro board, who lauded the feds' decision:

The extension of Metrorail through Tyson's Corner and onto Dulles International Airport is a vital element in the region's transportation plan. It will provide an essential connection in the National Capital Region, help reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, and promote transit-oriented development in a crucial economic corridor.

For all of these reasons, the Transit Authority has long supported this project and is prepared to operate it when completed.

Tysons Tunnel president Scott A. Montett, as you might guess, wasn't so pleased:

Tysons Tunnel and its tens of thousands of supporters in Northern Virginia are extremely disappointed about today's Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project news. Despite this development we still strongly believe it to be in the best interests of Northern Virginia taxpayers that the state competitively bid the Dulles rail project and that it study a tunnel for Tysons Corner. Taking this common-sense approach would assure the residents of this region that they are not overpaying for Metro service to Dulles International Airport.

The FTA's stunning and unexpected reversal leaves many unanswered questions regarding what changes have been made to the Dulles rail project to make it eligible for nearly a billion dollars of federal funding.

Local bloggers almost universally expressed surprise about the decision, but their opinions diverged from there.

Here's a sampling:

» TheAtlantic.com's Matthew Yglesias: "[T]he "silver line" new Metro spur to Dulles Airport is back on track with the Bush administration deciding to un-kill the proposal in a rare triumph of sound policymaking from this crew. Good!"

» Blogger Domo El Mono Loco at Nowhere But Here!: "[A] little over two months ago the Dulles Rail Project was all but dead; but as with all politics, ass-kissing and back scratching can get you a long way. The word in the news today is that the Dulles Airport Extension will be approved by federal administrators and Northern Virgina will continue to grow exponentially. At least now, the vehicle traffic wont have to grow exponentially as well."

» Dorksquad.org: "Even if it takes forever to actually build the thing, it at least makes the idea of flying out of Dulles at some point in the future vaguely palatable."

» Blogger Paradox13Va at Leesburg Tomorrow pointed out the limited immediate benefit the decision will bring to Loudoun County: "Another interesting factor in all of this is a fact that is going under-reported, but is of considerable import to Loudoun: This project will only bring rail to Reston. For $900 million in Federal money, decades of planning and promises, speculative development based on proposed stations, and repeated harangues from community leaders Loudoun will get exactly nothing from this deal, except perhaps even more traffic."

» Ditto southern Fairfax County, according to blogger Not Larry Sabato: "The new Silver line will run through Fairfax from Falls Church to Reston (and eventually out to Dulles Airport and Loudoun County). So Fairfax taxpayers in Springfield, Lorton, Fairfax Station, Mt. Vernon, Franconia, Clifton and Burke will be helping to pay for this service every single year in local taxes- but will probably never use it."

My favorite headline on this topic so far comes from Restonian: "Metro Silver Line: All that clapping worked!" But maybe that's just the Peter Pan in me talking.

Posted by Greg Barber at 5:34 PM on April 30, 2008
Tagged in Free Ride , Metro , News , Top Stories , Transit