The federal government’s plan to send nearly 22,000 new military jobs to Fort Belvoir could take another public flogging at a congressional hearing today, where elected officials will have a forum to air a long list of anticipated traffic problems.
A town’s worth of army personnel and civilian contractors are set to drop on the southern Fairfax County base by 2011 under the 2005 federal base closure and realignment directives. Many worry that the region’s already overwhelmed transportation systems will be devastated by the move.
The House Government Reform Committee, chaired by 11th District Rep. Tom Davis, is set to hold the morning hearing at Rolling Valley Elementary School in Springfield. State and local political figures — including Gov. Tim Kaine — dominate the list of scheduled speakers, which includes only a single Army official.
“I’m hoping that the committee gets a sense of urgency that Fairfax County feels about trying to implement BRAC without adequate transportation infrastructure in place by [2011],” said Fairfax County Supervisor Gerald Hyland, who represents the Mount Vernon District.
The Army recently announced its preference to locate 18,000 of the workers on the 800-acre Engineer Proving Ground off Interstate 95. But with a dearth of funding available for hundreds of millions of dollars in identified road improvements — which include upgrades to Route 1 and the interstate — it is yet unclear how roads can be adequately prepared in time.
