A $2 million study of needed traffic improvements around Fort Belvoir from 22,000 new military jobs has been included in a federal defense spending bill.
Sen. George Allen tacked the amendment onto the 2007 Defense Appropriations Bill to review how last year’s Base Closure and Realignment directives would affect the area’s transportation systems. The BRAC shift mandates a massive relocation of workers to the Fairfax County military base by 2011. The bill has yet to pass the Senate.
The Army is still officially mulling where to put the workers, though a report late last month showed the military wants to cluster 18,000 of them on the 800-acre Engineer Proving Ground.
According to Army forecasts, serious upgrades on Interstate 95 and Fairfax County Parkway would be necessary if that proposal is adopted.
Furious local officials were quick to protest that announcement, arguing the Army disregarded their input and instead opted for a plan that would jam up roads.
About $600 million in necessary improvements have been identified to accommodate the shift, only about $175 million of which has been funded.
“Along with that decision [by the Army] comes the responsibility not to overburden the other citizens who use the roads, and not to pass the full bill onto the locality,” said Allen spokesman John Reid. “The federal government needs to pick up the tab for making their facility accessible.”
The study must be concluded within one year, Reid said, after which the results will be reported back to the congress.
