The U.S. Army onFriday released a broad study on the effect of moving 22,000 military jobs to Fort Belvoir, a document instantly drawing fire for its calculation of necessary road improvements surrounding the Fairfax County base.
Belvoir is slated to nearly double in size by 2011 under Base Realignment and Closure mandates. The draft environmental impact statement proposes that $458 million worth of transportation fixes, all unfunded, would be needed under the Army’s preferred plan to manage the new traffic generated by the federally imposed job shift.
This figure adds to a wildly varied mix of estimates on how much shoring up the south county road network would cost. Under the current plan, which isn’t finalized, 18,000 of the new jobs would move to the 800-acre Engineer Proving Ground off Interstate 95. The shift is widely expected to swamp local roads with new traffic.
Earlier Army estimates put the transportation price tag at more than $600 million, though Belvoir spokesmen said the discrepancy is due largely to existing funding being struck from the new figure. Some projects are already in large part paid for.
“That’s not a change because they changed something in the projects, that’s because the information [the Army] has is better now and they’re able to make a more sophisticated estimate,” Belvoir spokesman Don Dees said.
Local officials, who have long criticized the Army’s course on the BRAC shift, said the dollar amount is inadequate.
“$458 million is a gross underestimate of what’s needed,” said Jeff McKay, chief of staff for Lee District Supervisor Dana Kauffman.
In the impact statement, the Army said plans other than its preferred one for placing new agencies at Belvoir would require road improvements that could cost as much as $742 million.
“They’re trying to lead the public to believe that the alternative they want is the least intrusive, the easiest to do,and will have the least amount of impact on our roads, when in point of fact it’s the opposite,” McKay said.
McKay has announced plans to run for his boss’ seat in November, after Kauffman said earlier this year he would not seek another term.
Broader estimates that include other possible projects put the cost at as much as $1.6 billion, which includes a potential rail extension to Belvoir and a bevy of other major road upgrades.
“There is a total disconnect between [$458 million] and what people in the transportation business think is necessary,” said Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland.
The release of the impact statement opens a 60-day public-comment period. Copies are available online at www.belvoir.army.mil.
Bill supports proposed parkway extension
Legislation awaiting Gov. Tim Kaine’s signature could speed the extension of the Fairfax County Parkway.
The bill simplifies the process for Virginia’s government to gain control of a federally owned stretch of land through Fort Belvoir’s Engineer Proving Ground. It removes the requirement that the federal government clean up environmental contamination before the state acquires the land.
Instead, the bill allows the state to get the land if the federal government agrees to clean up and build the $600 million parkway extension. Local lawmakers say that will help the project along because the government can combine cleanup and construction.
“This gets the project moving,” said Del. David Albo, R-Springfield, who introduced the measure.
The proposed two-mile extension will serve an area slated to gain 22,000 workers by 2011 as part of the federal government’s Base Realignment and Closure process. Without the six-lane extension, supporters of the project fear the area’s transportation network will be overloaded by the additional vehicles.
“This is a great bill because BRAC is coming whether the infrastructure is ready or not,” said Sen. Jay O’Brien, R-Fairfax. “The federal government is not going to wait until the infrastructure is ready. We need this as soon as possible.”
Kaine is expected to sign the bill into law because his transportation secretary, Pierce Homer, was heavily involved in the bill’s drafting.
– Joe Rogalsky
