The total cost of building the Columbia Pike streetcar system between Arlington and Fairfax counties is still unclear, but if transportation officials want to get a grant from the Federal Transit Administration, they'll have to keep the price tag under $250 million.
Arlington and Fairfax officials hired Metro to manage a federally mandated environmental impact study of the streetcar project as well as a second study that would examine possible alternatives to the streetcar plan, which is required by the FTA's New Starts/Small Starts grant program.
The FTA program can provide up to $75 million for a project with a stipulation that the total project cost not exceed $250 million.
Transportation officials don't have a current estimate for the streetcar's construction costs, and likely won't have one until after Metro completes its studies sometime next spring. Year-old preliminary estimates put the cost at $160 million to $175 million, but it's possible the price has risen since then, said Leonard Wolfenstein, Fairfax County's transportation planning chief.
The FTA-required alternative analysis is intended to show how three different scenarios would affect Columbia Pike. In addition to the streetcars, there's a "no-build" alternative, in which Columbia Pike is left unchanged, and a bus alternative, which involves improved rapid bus service along the road.
The Arlington County Board and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors both approved the streetcar as their preferred transportation option in 2006.
Transit officials are moving forward with plans for the streetcar under the assumption that the project will request a $50 million FTA grant, according to Wolfenstein.
Current plans, which transit officials presented to the public at two meetings this week, include installing 16 stations along the five-mile stretch of Columbia Pike between Skyline and Pentagon City, with 10 to 14 streetcars running every six minutes. WMATA buses will help ease congestion during peak hours.
Even if the project is awarded FTA funds, Arlington County is expected to contribute a lion's share of the local funds needed to complete the project since a majority of the system will operate in Arlington.
So far Arlington has paid for 80 percent of the project costs, with Fairfax County picking up the remaining 20 percent, according to Wolfenstein, though the counties will renegotiate their agreement before construction begins.
