The West U Examiner ran a similar story to the one about Metro's costs and critics last week, in which the same questions about the cost estimates were raised by the same critic. The basic points are identical, so there's not much to add except my congratulations to Mr. Magaziner for getting his complaints aired in more than one venue.

Meanwhile, Christof looks at the Federal Transportation Authority's Annual Report on Funding Recommendations, from which Metro just received $150 million in construction funds for the North and Southeast lines, and notes that when all is said and done, a total of $665 million will be coming our way for those two lines. In addition, the Universities line, which isn't in the pipeline for federal funds just yet, stacks up quite nicely against the many other rail projects around the country in terms of price tag and projected ridership. The pieces are in place for all of this stuff to take a big leap forward once they get going. It's just a matter of when.