The proposed platform at Wiehle Avenue.

The Washington Post is reporting that the FTA has reversed its earlier decision and is now set to approve funding for the Tysons Corner Metro extension. FTA boss Mary Peters is supposedly on a conference call with Virginia Governor Kaine and other officials right now, literally as BeyondDC types this post, to give them the good news.

More info as the story develops.

The big question now, assuming the Post’s info is accurate, is whether a neutered NVTA poses a major problem for the local portion of funding. We’re not sure it does. Last BeyondDC knew, the State funding match is coming from tolls on the airport access road, and the County match from a real estate tax on businesses in the corridor. But given this project’s history, we’re still holding our breath until we can get confirmation.

Update 1:10 p.m. – Amy Gardner of the Washington Post just finished a very informative online question/answer session about the project. The most important of several revelations: What was approved today was NOT a full construction grant, but $150 million for final design. That’s still a big deal, though. The total amount spent on the Silver line so far is about $140 million, so this will more than double the money invested. We can’t think of a better illustration of support.

Update 1:50 p.m. – The Post has put online an updated article pulling together much of the information available so far. One tidbit: Approval is coming with strings. VA and WMATA have to find a way to guarantee adequate maintenance investment in the Metro system.

Update 2:50 p.m. – It’s a big day for Mary Peters. In addition to the news about the Silver line, she’s launched a new official USDOT blog, Welcome to the Fast Lane. Never mind the highway bias in the name, two of the first five posts regard Tysons Metro. One is a lovefest guest post by VA Governor Kaine extolling Ms. Peters’ virtues. The other, written by Peters herself, links to all sorts of handy information, including FTA’s official statements on the issue, as well as FTA’s letter to Kaine and a matrix outlining what’s changed about the project since January.

All this begs the question: Is Mary Peters a villain or a hero? We know she’s an ideological Bush appointee and Highway Administration alum who comes from Phoenix, the most suburban and auto-oriented major city in America. We know she thinks the Federal government should hand over infrastructure-building to private firms, and we suspect her earlier opposition to the Silver line was part of a scheme to turn the project over to private investors… But Kaine can’t stop praising her, and according to the first Post article we posted this morning, “Officials with knowledge of the federal decision said Peters was behind the reversal despite objections from the FTA staff.” In other words, Peters saved the Silver line from the FTA.

What gives? We know the world isn’t supposed to be black and white, but there’s got to be more to this story. Why did the villain turn hero?