Anne Arundel County has adequate housing and office space available for thousands of workers expected to relocate to Fort Meade in the coming years, but the county may have to ramp up road construction and access to public transportation, a county official said.
The county should expect about 25,000 additional residents by about 2011, when the Base Closure and Realignment Commission?s recommendations are under way, said George Cardwell, Anne Arundel County?s transportation planning division administrator.
About 5,600 direct jobs will move to Fort Meade when the Defense Information Systems Agency relocates, and the National Security Agency is also expected to add about 1,500 jobs a year over the next five years, Cardwell said.
Taking family members, contractors and support jobs at the base into account boosts the number of expected residents to about 25,000.
The county is expected to see about 4,000 additional households by 2011, and Cardwell said the county has already approved about 5,7000 homes for development.
“There is an adequate amount of housing in the pipeline,” he said.
The county also has about 9 million square feet of office space available for business development, he said.
At a conference of Realtors last Thursday, transportation was discussed as a major issue counties will have to contend with.
Cardwell said the county has already funded a study to expand MD 175 between MD 170 and the Baltimore Washington Parkway, and that it hopes the state and federal government will fund major expansion by 2009.
The county has also discussed improvements to Route 32 and Route 198, Cardwell said.
There will also be a push to expand public transportation. The county is in talks to get direct, frequent bus service to Savage and Odenton, and possibly Laurel and Bowie.
