Metro Silver Line: Maybe We Should Keep Clapping, Just In Case

Things are going so awesomely with Metro's Silver Line that Gov. Tim Kaine is coming to Reston today to bask in its reflected, silvery glory.

On Wednesday, June 11, the Dulles Corridor Rail Association (DCRA) will celebrate its 10th anniversary and honor Governor Tim Kaine at a reception hosted by The JPI Companies and the new Westin Reston Heights hotel.

That's right -- the high-density development that's across the freaking highway from the planned Metro station. Assuming it gets built, that is, after some Ron Paul libertarian types brought back to life some inane procedural lawsuit that's been around since roughly 1609, when the Metro tracks were made out of wood and moccasin strings.

A proposed extension of Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, already on precarious footing, was dealt another setback yesterday when the Virginia Supreme Court allowed a lawsuit to go forward challenging plans to use Dulles Toll Road receipts to fund construction.

At issue is whether Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) violated the constitution when he announced plans -- without General Assembly action -- to transfer the state-owned Dulles Toll Road to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which intends to raise tolls and use the proceeds toward the cost of the rail line.

"I would just like for them to take the constitution seriously," said lawyer Patrick M. McSweeney, a former chairman of the state Republican Party, who represented the plaintiffs.

So this dork managed to do what the developers grassroots movement known as Under, Not Over couldn't -- possibly slow this sucker down. But despite losing their deepest pockets, the developer selfless grassroot organizer who bankrolled TysonsTunnel.org to the tune of $3 million, the group is pressing on with its demands that a tunnel plied by glass-bottomed Metro cars be built to preserve Tysons' unspoiled beauty. They recently met for lunch and raised a "couple of thousand dollars" to continue fighting for the cause.

Several tunnel boosters in the room said they would rather see no rail at all than an elevated track through Tysons.

"It will be so unsightly and noisy; it will be such a distraction visually," said Nancy McLeod, a longtime resident of the McLean Hunt neighborhood near Tysons.

Nose, meet face. Have fun cutting yourself off!

Not that it matters. A track fire here, another derailment there, and soon enough Metro won't have enough trains to get out to Arlington, much less the airport.