[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 779 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 779

   To authorize project development for projects to extend Metrorail 
         service in Northern Virginia, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 5, 2015

Mr. Connolly (for himself and Mr. Beyer) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
                             Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize project development for projects to extend Metrorail 
         service in Northern Virginia, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Northern Virginia Metrorail 
Extension Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority 
        (Metro) maintains the second largest rail network in the 
        Nation.
            (2) Local and State governments in the National Capital 
        Region have led efforts to extend Metrorail service, and any 
        future Metrorail extension will be provided only with their 
        collaboration, consistent with local planning objectives.
            (3) In the most recent draft strategic plan, Momentum: The 
        Next Generation of Metro, Metro identifies future expansion 
        opportunities, including the Orange Line in Virginia from 
        Vienna to Centreville and the Blue Line in Virginia from 
        Franconia-Springfield to Prince William.
            (4) More than 120,000 Federal employees ride Metro to work, 
        accounting for more than 40 percent of the morning rush-hour 
        ridership.
            (5) More than half of Metro's current stations are located 
        on Federal property.
            (6) The Federal Government has partnered with the State and 
        local governments to provide $300 million, consisting of $150 
        million in Federal funds to match $50 million each from 
        Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia (Public Law 
        110-432), over a 10-year period for safety and other capital 
        improvements throughout the Metro system.
            (7) Metro takes 580,000 cars off the road each day, 
        eliminates the need for 1,400 lane miles of highway, reduces 
        gas consumption by 75 million gallons annually, and eliminates 
        more than 10,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
            (8) Metrorail stations encourage transit-oriented 
        development, which is critical to protecting open space 
        throughout the region.
            (9) Metro stimulates economic and job growth, and real 
        estate near Metrorail stations is worth in excess of $25 
        billion.
            (10) The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and 
        the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transit (VDRPT) 
        completed a Major Investment Study that concluded that a 
        multimodal transportation strategy is required to accommodate 
        projected travel demand in Virginia along Interstate Route 66 
        from Interstate Route 495 to the Centreville and Haymarket 
        communities, areas which would be served by the proposed Orange 
        Line extension.
            (11) The Route 1 Multimodal Alternatives Analysis, a 
        partnership between VDOT, VDRPT, and Fairfax and Prince William 
        counties, in October 2014 endorsed recommendations for 
        improving the corridor to include extending Metro's Yellow Line 
        to Hybla Valley ``as expeditiously as possible''.
            (12) The population of the area to be served by the 
        proposed Orange Line extension is expected to be 681,000 
        individuals by 2025, while employment in the area is projected 
        to increase to 362,000 individuals.
            (13) The population of the area to be served by the 
        proposed Blue and Yellow Line extensions grew by 120,000 people 
        between 2000 and 2010, and continued growth of another 100,000 
        people is expected by 2020.
            (14) The Comprehensive Plans for both Fairfax and Prince 
        William counties identify the need to develop alternative 
        transit concepts, including an extension of the existing 
        Metrorail lines.
            (15) As a result of military base realignments and 
        closures, thousands of national defense-related Federal and 
        civilian jobs will shift from the area of Crystal City, 
        Virginia, which is served by Metrorail, to Fort Belvoir, 
        Virginia, and the Engineer Proving Ground in southern Fairfax, 
        neither of which is currently served by Metro.
            (16) Department of Defense analysis shows many of those 
        employees are coming from points south and west.
            (17) Additional job growth along the Richmond Highway 
        (Route 1) corridor and Interstate Route 95 in both Fairfax and 
        Prince William counties, including communities like Mount 
        Vernon, Woodbridge, and Potomac Mills, adds further urgency to 
        the need to expand Metro service in Northern Virginia.
            (18) To ensure the regional transportation network can 
        accommodate projected growth, it is critical that extensions of 
        transit service are coordinated with local land use planning, 
        including the use of smart growth principles and transit-
        oriented development.

SEC. 3. NEW FIXED GUIDEWAY CAPITAL PROJECTS, NORTHERN VIRGINIA.

    The following projects are deemed to have entered the project 
development phase under section 5309(d)(1) of title 49, United States 
Code:
            (1) Northern Virginia--Extension of Metrorail Blue Line to 
        include the Engineer Proving Ground and the Interstate Route 95 
        corridor in Fairfax and Prince William counties.
            (2) Northern Virginia--Extension of Metrorail Orange Line 
        to Centreville.
            (3) Northern Virginia--Extension of Metrorail Yellow Line 
        to the Richmond Highway (Route 1) corridor in Fairfax and 
        Prince William counties.
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