The Department of Defense has awarded Virginia $1.9 million to study how to shore up interchanges on the Fairfax County Parkway ahead of a large-scale military job influx at Fort Belvoir, the Virginia Department of Transportation announced Friday.
The funds, however, represent less than a half of a percent of the about $450 million that Virginia and Army officials say will be necessary to prepare the area’s road network for the 19,000 new workers to the south-county base by 2011. The federally mandated job shift is part of a nationwide shift of military facilities called Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC.
Little of that money has been set aside, and the relatively slow trickle of funds has done little to alleviate fears that BRAC will land on Fairfax County with inadequate local infrastructure, causing new bottlenecks throughout surrounding communities.
Fairfax County Supervisor Gerry Hyland, who represents the Mount Vernon District, called the $1.9 million a positive step, but nevertheless a “drop in the bucket.” Without millions of dollars more, he said the military won’t be able to move its workers on or off the base.
“There is not a clear path, as far as the funding, that has been identified,” he said. “Yet that is the most important thing that has to be decided before you talk about trying to implement BRAC by 2011.”
The $1.9 million will be used to determine needed improvements on the Fairfax County Parkway interchanges at Interstate 95 and the Franconia-Springfield Parkway, and will fund a required environmental study.
The largest part of the 19,000 jobs is slated for the 800-acre Engineer Proving Ground off Interstate 95.
“The development of Fort Belvoir-Engineering Proving Ground will have tremendous impact on the local and regional transportation network surrounding that area … the grant will help Virginia advance potential improvements,” VDOT Commissioner David S. Ekern said.
