Who — if anyone — will pay for hundreds of millions in necessary road improvements to the Fort Belvoir area remains largely a mystery, an issue growing ever more pressing as 22,000new military jobs prepare to move to the base over the next few years.
The massive personnel shift, mandated by the Base Realignment and Closure directives, will drop thousands of military personnel and contractors onto Fort Belvoir by 2011.
Exactly how this relocation could shape up was made more clear last month when the Army announced a much-maligned proposal to send 18,000 of the workers to an 800-acre parcel off Interstate 95, known as the Engineer Proving Ground.
No broad consensus exists on the exact toll this shift will have on the area’s transportation systems, though it’s clear the impact will be substantial.
“We don’t know exactly what’s needed until we see their final plan,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Davis.
“I don’t think the community is keen on redirecting other funding sources that have been earmarked for other transportation projects, just so the Army can make a move that was never very popular to begin with.”
Army planners have identified $600 million in 14 needed improvement projects associated with the Engineer Proving Ground plan. Fairfax transportation staff plan to conduct their own analysis of that figure.
At this point, only about $175 worth of improvements are funded through local, state and federal sources, according to the Army.
“That’s the whole problem we have with this plan,” said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald Connolly.
“The Army has not identified a dime of where that money is coming from.”
With the state not contributing further resources and Fairfax County lacking the funds to bridge the shortfall, Connolly said the federal government is the only new potential source.
The Army will need to further examine road improvements as part of an upcoming environmental impact study that precedes the final decision on where to locate the new agencies, according toan Army spokesman.
Congressional hearing
» U.S. Rep. Tom Davis announced Aug. 31 as the date for a planned congressional hearing on the BRAC relocation to Fort Belvoir. The hearing will address the impact of the move on the area’s transportation network. A location has not yet been announced.
