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Notes: WMATA readying for new push for long-term, sustainable Metro funding

By ALXnow.com

Good Wednesday morning, Alexandria!

🌤️ Today’s weather: Expect partly sunny skies and a high near 80, accompanied by a southwest wind ranging from 9 to 13 mph and gusts up to 22 mph. The night will be mostly cloudy, with temperatures dropping to around 64. The southwest wind will decrease to about 6 mph before becoming calm in the evening.

🚨 You need to know

A train arrives at the Potomac Yard Metro station (staff photo by James Cullum)

The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission is set to hear a report about the future of Metro this week.

At the NVTC meeting tomorrow (Thursday), the Commission is scheduled to hear some of the priorities for the year. According to a release from the NVTC, that includes:

  1. Continue to work with federal, state, regional and local funding partners to develop long term, sustainable, dedicated funding to meet Metro’s capital and operating needs.
  2. Preserve additional state aid (FY 2026) and operating cap re-baselining contained in the two-year state budget.
  3. Establish a revised Virginia and Maryland legislative operating assistance growth cap.

There are ten recommendations in the plan, some of which are directed to state governments and congress, others are internal, like establishing a reserve fund and associated fiscal management policies.

The last recommendation, the one to congress, would “require consideration of Metro’s fiscal condition in binding arbitration.” WMATA said currently the transit system’s financial condition is not adequately taken into account during binding arbitration.

The full list of recommendations is available in the draft plan (starts on page 50).

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  • This is the staff byline for ALXnow, used by editors and other full-time staff. Launched in October 2019, ALXnow is the place for the latest news, views and things to do around Alexandria, Virginia.