Fairfax County Chairman Sharon Bulova met with Defense Department officials on Tuesday urging them to do more to mitigate the traffic nightmare expected with the planned transfer of 6,400 DoD employees to Alexandria’s Mark Center.
Bulova’s move comes in the wake of the House’s passage of a Defense appropriations bill allowing for a one-year delay to the opening of Mark Center, located at the intersection of I-395 and Seminary Road.
Should the Senate pass the same language, the Defense Department would need to approve the delay.
“A one-year delay will allow some of the small improvements planned for the Mark Center area to be completed which may help commuters avoid total traffic gridlock,” Bulova said.
She added that a delay should be coupled with stepped up efforts by the federal government to provide solutions to the probable interstate snarls.
In all, about 19,000 DoD employees are scheduled to be transferred to the county, with the bulk of them to be headed to Fort Belvoir.
