Putting Dulles Rail Back on Track

Creating better transportation options is a major challenge facing Virginia's 11th District. Throughout my career I have been a strong advocate for public transportation, serving on the Public Works and Transportation Committee in Congress and pushing for the Virginia Rail Express project as a delegate. I am dedicated to finding options that are convenient, economically beneficial, and environmentally friendly.

We need a public transportation plan that will not only spend money responsibly but will make transportation available for average citizens. As the first elected official to obtain federal funding for Dulles Rail, I'll be a powerful and effective advocate for the Metro extension to Tysons, Reston and Leesburg. My in-depth knowledge of this issue will allow me to best serve the people and continue to fight to obtain the necessary federal aid. An open and transparent bidding process will best benefit the majority interests. We should also bring on board an administrator who has real experience building rail, rather than the Metropolitan Airports Authority, as it will be much easier to win support for a project that does not seem ripe for delays and overruns.

Recent versions of the Dulles Rail plan involved too much commercial expansion, making them seem more like a zoning project than a transit project. If we do not tie transportation to good land-use planning, we will do more harm than good. Expanding the Metro to Dulles Airport would be a huge boon for the area but proposals that include a thirty-five foot aerial track would cancel out potential benefits. I have been and will remain a supporter of the tunnel option, which has less cost and less disruption to Tysons Corner.

As a former congresswoman, I would be able to reclaim my seniority and have priority over other newly elected representatives for committee assignments - including the Transportation Committee. I am the only candidate in the race who would enter Congress with that edge, which could be a real advantage to voters here in the 11th district.