The U.S. Army this month will release reams of planning work that will map out how a massive job influx of 22,000 people at Fort Belvoir will affect the base and surrounding communities.
The draft environmental impact statement will be made available for comment on Feb. 23, opening the public floodgates on a contentious federally mandated shift. Under base realignment and closure, or BRAC, 22,000 new jobs are set to move to Belvoir by 2011. The move is expected to swamp the southern Fairfax County transportation network.
Route 1 and Interstate 95 will be inundated with cars, and the cross-county routes will be overwhelmed.
“It’s probably the most critical next step in the planning process for the community, in terms of the community being able to see for themselves what the planners have worked up to this point,” said Belvoir spokesman Don Carr.
Feb. 23 opens up a 45-day public comment period, after which the Army will consider what is likely to be a substantial flurry of input. The plan will then be put out for comment a second time, and eventually used to craft a master plan for the BRAC shift at Belvoir.
Under the Army’s current plan, 18,000 of the new jobs will relocate to the 800-acre Engineer Proving Ground off Interstate 95. The proving ground, a former explosives testing site that is still the subject of environmental cleanup, was blasted by local officials last year as a poor choice for the bulk of the new workers.
The impact statement will take into account the more than a dozen road projects deemed necessary ahead of the influx, which are expected to cost more than $600 million. Only a few of the projects, like the completion of the Fairfax County Parkway through the proving ground, are funded.
Overall, the BRAC planning has been marked by uncertainty and anger, with deep disagreements persisting over how the change should be handled and how many road fixes can be funded.
Supervisor Elaine McConnell, who represents the Springfield District, remains optimistic.
“I think if we get the main roads, if we get things like the parkway completed … I think yes, we can probably do it,” she said. “On the rest of it, we need every bit of help we can get.”
