LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 2, No. 15 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
Feb. 16 – 22, 2017 ]
Spirits are high at Catoctin Creek
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Douglas Graham/Loudoun Now
Construction continues on the overpass at the intersection of Belmont Ridge Road and Rt. 7, one of several large projects that are keeping contractors busy in Loudoun.
Is Building Boom Putting a Squeeze on Loudoun? BY RENSS GREENE
A
huge infusion of transportation construction cash and projects in Northern Virginia in the past several years could have an unintended consequence for Loudoun: more difficulty building big projects like roads and bridges. In 2013, the state passed legislation
that began pouring hundreds of millions of dollars of funding into transportation in Northern Virginia. At the same time, Loudoun launched into an ambitious locally funded road building plan after years without any completed roads by the Virginia Department of Transportation. Some county leaders worry that has resulted in more construction projects than contractors to build them, pushing
up project costs. “This new infusion of funding for public projects, coupled with robust private sector development activities in NOVA is, in my opinion, saturating the construction market based on the number of contractors in the area,” said Loudoun Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure Director Joe Kroboth. The county has seen fewer contractors bidding on county construction projects,
and some bids are coming in above the county’s cost projections. Melissa Tello, Loudoun County’s construction program manager, said those problems tend to be worst in certain niches. “Our parks are definitely one of those areas where we don’t see as many bidders,” Tello said. “Certainly, traffic sigCONSTRUCTION BOOM >> 38
Metro Budget Puts Loudoun on the Hook for Millions More BY RENSS GREENE New estimates show Loudoun’s payments to Metro could be as much as $27.9 million higher, double what was expected in the first year—with some asterisks. Metro’s proposed fiscal year 2018 budget raised a lot of eyebrows around the DC region by doubling or tripling some costs to the jurisdictions that pay into the
transit system, and now Loudoun is grappling with its own obligation doubling in cost and a shortfall of millions of dollars. Those numbers come with caveats. For example, they include a bus service payment, which Loudoun will not make to WMATA because it will continue to provide its own bus service instead of using Metro buses. County finance committee Chairman Matthew F. Letourneau
(R-Dulles) estimated those payments account for about half of the projected operating costs and a quarter of capital costs. As part of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority compact, Loudoun, like every other participating locality, must contribute operating and capital costs based on its ridership and stations. The county’s fiscal planning is based on projected costs from before
Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld unveiled what he called the Reality Check Budget Plan. That budget shows capital costs rising dramatically to address up to Metro’s longstanding maintenance and safety concerns. Some localities, like Alexandria and Fairfax County, are seeing their proMETRO >> 25
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