Anne Arundel officials are pushing for funding of local road projects and more attention to solving expected traffic congestion in a new report.
The recommendations come as part of the draft Base Realignment and Closure report from the county?stask force assessing the expected influx at Fort Meade.
“This report brings BRAC down to the county level with a laser focus on issues specific to us,” said Bob Leib, Anne Arundel?s BRAC coordinator.
Improvements to the county?s major roads is mostly in the hands of State Highway Administration and state officials who control funding, not county officials.
But officials are proposing road projects not considered by the state, including widening Route 32 and the construction of Odenton Town Center Boulevard and other new roads near the fort to relieve congestion.
To help gain attention to local needs, the report also is proposing a new county position that would handle BRAC transportation issues and a regional council to promote improvements within a five-mile radius of the fort.
BRAC planners have said transportation is the biggest issue facing Fort Meade?s expansions, as all of the major highways ? Routes 32, 175, 198 and 295 ? will not be ready to handle the 22,000 jobs by 2011. Many intersections will fail in the Odenton area.
Major congestion in western Anne Arundel could be a problem for three to five years.
That is why the task force has placed nearly all of its transportation goals as high priorities, officials say.
The state has begun to commit money toward BRAC improvements. In the proposed fiscal year 2009 budget, the state has allocated $18.6 million for design and engineering for expanding Route 175. The widening of that road is the top priority for BRAC planners. The allocation also includes money for right of way acquisition.
There is also $47 million for intersection improvements around Fort Meade, which officials have said could be done in time for the influx.
