To the Editor:
At the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA or Metro) hearing on the proposed Potomac Yard Metro Station, there was no public consensus around city hall’s preferred Option B. However, all the official organs of government, including a representative from the Commonwealth, as well as the Chamber of Commerce, seem united behind it.
The proposed Potomac Yard Station is only the second “in-fill” station to be constructed in the Metro system. The only other one, at NoMa, experienced a huge cost overrun. Slated to cost $75 million, it ended up costing $103 million – a 37 percent cost overrun. A metro station sandwiched between an active railroad, wetlands, and parkland quite foreseeably could experience even greater cost overrun.
What is city hall’s plan for financing any cost overrun? Who will bear the borrowing and interest costs? What will the Chamber of Commerce say when citizens suggest that, since the Chamber wanted the metro station which most citizens didn’t, a commercial add-on tax should cover any cost overrun?
Dino Drudi
Alexandria