Alexandria officials are fuming about the Army’s plans to relocate 6,400 military workers to the city’s Mark Center, while staffers try to plan for the anticipated crush of traffic.
The employees are transferring under the federal government’s Base Realignment and Closure plan, which mandates the relocation of thousands of military employees nationwide by September 2011.
State and local officials recently said the site was not viable for commuters and that relocating the workers to the Victory Center site on Eisenhower Avenue would have been more feasible. A General Services Administration warehouse site in Fairfax County also was being considered.
The Virginia Department of Transportation’s “position was that this site was not viable,” said Nick Nicholson, the agency’s regional transportation program director. “It didn’t have Metro or major transit to it. … The Army went there without an adequate transportation plan.”
City officials agreed that the Victory Center site, which sits between two Metro stops and close to the Capital Beltway, would have offered better transportation options. But they acknowledged that they had to focus on the transportation issues at the Mark Center site off Interstate 395 and Seminary Road.
“It was a mistake. We should have been decisive,” said Vice Mayor Kerry Donley, who was not on the council when the plan was approved. “We strayed from our development principles. We’re living that mistake right now.”
Councilman Rob Krupicka agreed.
“Eisenhower had so many other desirable qualities that it was the logical choice, and I think we were all very surprised when we heard the alternative, as VDOT was,” he said.
The city may benefit from federal funding for a study of improvements needed to accommodate growth and traffic associated with the relocation.
A recently passed Senate funding bill includes a $450,000 measure from U.S. Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner for such a study. The study could identify new criteria for determining funding eligibility and lead to more cost sharing by the Department of Defense.
