NVTA committee signals it will not fund routine project cost overruns, leaves narrow petition route

The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) Planning and Programming Advisory Committee discussed a draft policy that would generally not fund project cost underestimates and overruns, while leaving a limited petition process for truly extraordinary circumstances, committee members heard at the meeting.

The issue matters because staff warned the Authority could face roughly $1,000,000,000 in underestimates or overruns ("give or take $200,000,000") if it opened broad funding for overruns, and because the Authority is weighing how to reconcile that risk with a large backlog of reimbursement requests approaching $2,000,000,000.

Authority staff recapped prior work on the topic dating to 2015–2016, when an advisory panel recommended against maintaining a contingency reserve for overruns and the Authority later moved those monies back into the regional revenue fund. Authority staff said the draft now being vetted would: (1) adopt a general position against funding underestimates and overruns; (2) disallow transfers between already approved projects going forward; and (3) provide a petition avenue that could be used only in…