The Department of Defense Inspector General’s Office is taking another look at the department’s plans to move about 6,400 Defense personnel to the Mark Center site in Alexandria as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process. Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., has pressured the Pentagon to delay or suspend the move until officials can resolve expected traffic problems the development could cause.
“I don’t want them moving until there’s adequate infrastructure in place,” Moran told The Washington Examiner. “I don’t think [the building] ever should have been there.”
Moran had earlier secured a provision in the fiscal 2011 defense authorization bill that would limit parking at the site to 1,000 spaces.
The inspector general will conduct two engineering assessments: one on the Army’s Transportation Management Plan for sufficiency associated with the site selection and the other on the Final Environmental Assessment Implementation Plan to determine the sufficiency in completing requisite environmental studies associated with the site selection.
A 2008 Environmental Assessment by the Army Corps of Engineers said that moving thousands of workers to the Mark Center site wouldn’t have a significant effect on local roads. Subsequent reports, however, questioned that assessment.
“There are a number of things in their report that didn’t make a lot of sense,” Moran said. The Pentagon’s conclusion that the addition of so many employees to the site would not have repercussions for commuters or employees is “flat wrong,” he said.
The site, located off of Interstate 395 between the Capital Beltway and the Pentagon, was selected in 2008 over other potential locations, including a General Services Administration site in Springfield and the Victory Center site on Eisenhower Avenue just a few blocks from the Van Dorn Street Metro station.
BRAC, the process intended to save the Pentagon money by shutting down or consolidating military installations, mandates the move of thousands of military personnel throughout the D.C. area by Sept. 15, 2011.
The inspector general’s report is expected to be released in February, just seven months before the BRAC deadline for relocating the employees.
“I have positive expectations from the Inspector General’s Office,” Moran said.
