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1999 SESSION

990817687
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 375
Senate Amendments in [ ] -- January 28, 1999
Encouraging development of rail transit to Dulles International Airport.
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Patrons-- Howell, Barry, Colgan, Mims, Saslaw, Ticer and Whipple; Delegates: Albo, Brink, Marshall, McQuigg, Moran, Parrish, Plum, Puller, Rollison and Scott
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, Dulles International Airport, serving from the Commonwealth the capital area of the most powerful nation in the world, stands alone among airports of the world’s great cities in its lack of any form of urban access by rail transit; and

WHEREAS, the corridor running from Dulles International Airport northwest into Loudoun County and east through Herndon and Reston to Tysons Corner in Fairfax County has experienced phenomenal economic and physical growth over the last decade, unlike any other concentration of growth in the Commonwealth or the Washington metropolitan area; and

WHEREAS, Tysons Corner and Reston are the first- and second-ranked “downtown” office locations, respectively, as measured by square footage, in Virginia, and Tysons Corner embraces the largest concentration of shopping in the metropolitan area; and

WHEREAS, Loudoun County is the fastest growing county in the United States, with more than 65 office and industrial projects approved on 8,500 acres within the Dulles corridor, with a build-out potential of 137 million square feet; and

WHEREAS, Dulles International Airport has experienced significant growth in airline passenger use — and increase of 12 percent in 1997 alone — and its current 15.1 million annual passenger count is expected to rise to 55 million in 20 years, and its current 350 metric tons of cargo to eight million metric tons; and

WHEREAS, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is planning a major new facility at Dulles International Airport to house its extraordinary collection of aircraft and spacecraft, and this new facility is projected to draw three million visitors in its first year of operation; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby encourage and support the development and completion by the year 2010 [ or of ] rail transit serving Dulles International Airport and other centers of growth in the Dulles corridor; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the General Assembly urge that a Dulles rail transit system be designed to connect with, and employ equipment compatible with, the existing Metrorail system of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority [ . ; and, be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit a copy of this resolution to the Secretary of Commerce and Trade, the Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation and the Commissioner of the Department of Transportation in order that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly in this matter. ]