Dulles Corridor Rail Implementation Resolution

January 24, 2006

WHEREAS, the Washington Airports Task Force (WATF) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) Virginia Corporation dedicated to promoting the expansion and enhancement of aviation services for Virginia and the National Capital region, which includes optimum transportation solutions within the Dulles Transportation Corridor (DTC); and

WHEREAS, the public agency charged with stewardship of the DTC is the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before it, has always made access to Dulles and construction of a Metrorail transit line from West Falls Church through Dulles Airport and into Loudoun County one of its highest priorities; and

WHEREAS, the land beneath the Toll Road, as well as the rest of the DTC, is owned by the Federal Government and leased until 2067 to MWAA as part of Washington Dulles International Airport; and

WHEREAS, MWAA has proposed (see MWAA proposal dated December 2005) to operate the Dulles Toll Road and build rail through Dulles Airport to Loudoun County; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Virginia has managed the environmental process for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Extension for Phase 1 and 2 to the point where the first phase of the project is in the implementation phase; and

WHEREAS, the Dulles Corridor is projected to grow by 300,000 jobs and 300,000 residents in the next 20 years, continuing to build on its dominant position in the regional economy and exacerbating the need for additional surface transportation capacity in the corridor; and

WHEREAS, MWAA has been both a highly-successful and internationally-recognized leader in airport management and is a public sector institution that has long been a key and reliable partner in the region in solving transportation problems, and has contributed to significant transportation projects within its property including the Dulles Toll Road, the Dulles Connector Road, Route 28, Route 606, park-and-ride lots, and a crucial portion of the Dulles Greenway; and

WHEREAS, MWAA has been involved as a major stakeholder in the planning process for the extension of rail in the Dulles Corridor; and

WHEREAS, Washington Dulles International Airport, from its opening in 1962, was planned to accommodate rail through the reservation of the median of the Dulles Airport Access Highway and that rail continues to be a key element of the plan to provide access to the Airport and to help meet its long-term growth projections; and

WHEREAS, MWAA has had significant experience in major construction projects, having successfully completed on time and within costs over $2.5 billion in capital development projects at both its airports and is currently investing an additional $4 billion at Dulles; and

WHEREAS, the MWAA proposal has the potential to provide financial savings through the use of low-interest, tax-exempt financing and the ability to leverage revenues; and

WHEREAS, the MWAA proposal for the DTC would ensure that rail is constructed in one, single phase through Dulles Airport and into Loudoun County and that all toll revenues generated in the corridor stay in the corridor and are used for investment in transportation facilities;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Directors of the Washington Airports Task Force supports the key elements of the MWAA proposal to continue Metrorail from West Falls Church to Dulles Airport and into Loudoun County in one, single phase and urges the Virginia Department of Transportation to evaluate the subject proposal in a timely manner and ensure that its cost and time saving elements are favorably endorsed to the Commonwealth Transportation Board and included in the DTC solution.

This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Washington Airports Task Force Board of Directors, but for two abstentions made for ethical reasons to avoid any perceived conflict of interest, at its meeting held at Davis Carter Scott in McLean, VA on January 24, 2006.

Carol T. Welti, Corporate Secretary