Costs Go Up for Proposed Alexandria Metro Station

Steve Burns
WMAL.com

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (WMAL) Cost estimates are going up to build the new Potomac Yard Metro station in Alexandria. As the region sees multiple large construction projects, city officials say construction work is getting more expensive, but they maintain funding for the project remains strong.

The city has been working on adding an in-fill station on the Yellow and Blue lines between Reagan National and Braddock Road for decades. The last estimate, in 2015, pegged the project at about $268 million. The new estimate, to be looked over by the Alexandria City Council on Tuesday, is $320 million.

“I’ts really a bidder’s market for construction in this region,” Deputy City Manager Emily Baker told WMAL. “There are a lot of competing design-build major mega-projects going on in this region. The contractors bidding on this Metro station project are competing for labor, materials, specialty subcontractors, and it’s been, really, a challenge.”

Baker maintained the funding plans for the project are sound.

“The Metro station is going to be financed not by the taxpayers in Alexandria, but by the net increase in taxes in the Potomac Yard area that will be generated by the Metro station,” she said.

The city is envisioning a walkable, mixed-use development sprouting around the station, to include residences, retail, and offices.

“This station is going to be really critical to getting the type of growth and neighborhoods that we want to have in Alexandria,” Baker said.

Plus, it could look good in the eyes of Amazon, which is looking at Northern Virginia to house its coveted second headuqarters. Baker declined to detail the city’s interactions with Amazon, but did say more transportation options couldn’t hurt.

“I think have transit-oriented development is something that, I think, would be viewed favorably,” she said. “That would be something that they would be looking at.”

Officials estimate the station opening in late 2021 or early 2022.