Solutions sought for BRAC-related traffic - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Solutions sought for BRAC-related traffic

A new study concludes that 18 military installations, 15 of them Army, face severe, debilitating traffic problems because of the massive base realignment and closure actions approved by Congress and the president six years ago.

The deadline for completing those moves is Sept. 15, a mandate that all but assures the traffic problems will get worse before they get better.

The report, issued Feb. 7 by the National Academy of Sciences, calls on lawmakers and the Defense Department to support rescue funding for near-term transportation projects that could ease the growing gridlock around and through some of nation’s most prominent military bases.

“Congestion is certain to increase substantially, to the extent we feel immediate action” is warranted, said Joseph Sussman, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology civil engineering professor who chaired the academy’s National Research Council BRAC transportation committee.

The report cites fundamental flaws in the BRAC decision-making process in considering the ability of local infrastructure to handle what will be in some cases will be tens of thousands of additional people. The report also cites flaws in the Defense Department’s ability to fund road improvements, and poor communication between installations and local transportation authorities.

It calls on Congress to fast-track funds for transportation projects that could be initiated within one year and completed within three years, and says the Defense Department should shoulder its “fair share” of the costs.

The report also called on local communities to look at near-term solutions, such as high-occupancy or toll lanes. Sussman said authorities in local communities have more insight into such short-term strategies.

While the rescue projects cannot be completed before the BRAC realignment deadline, researchers said they will send a signal to people in the affected areas that the government is sensitive to their needs.

Many of the problem installations cited by the committee are located in major metropolitan areas, including the National Capital region surrounding Washington, D.C., and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which sits astride the Olympia-Tacoma corridor near Seattle.

A study by the Government Accountability Office in 2009 came to the same conclusions as the National Research Council.

Both studies were requested by the defense appropriation committees of Congress, which will play a major role in any efforts to fund BRAC-related traffic relief projects.

Bliss a success story

Academy researchers were impressed with the planning and inter-government cooperation that has gone on at Fort Bliss, the sprawling border installation in west Texas and New Mexico that is experiencing a 300 percent growth in population.

While further transportation improvements are needed, military, state and local officials operating as “Team Bliss” have found ways to address growth problems, according to the researchers.

For example, a new segment of highway was identified early during the BRAC process, and the project is slated to be completed this year.

“The case study shows what can happen to accommodate base expansion when a community and state are committed to support it,” committee members reported.

Fort Bliss is the Army’s largest BRAC project, involving the addition of nearly 70,000 soldiers, Army civilians and dependents, and the construction of facilities for a division headquarters and several combat brigades.

Case studies conducted by the researchers indicate the growth of missions at Fort Belvoir, Va.; the National Naval Medical Center, Md.; and Fort Meade, Md., is leading to severe transportation problems across the National Capital region.

Noting that this region is rated as already having the second-worst rush hour traffic delays in the nation (Los Angeles is first), the researchers said “adding tens of thousands of commuters daily to already congested conditions implies that conditions can only worsen.”

Much of that traffic will be generated by Fort Belvoir, a base with three noncontiguous BRAC areas located along major highways. Belvoir is adding nearly 37,000 soldiers, employees and dependents to the Northern Virginia area.

Local officials say 30 major highway and transit projects are needed to serve post-BRAC Fort Belvoir, but fewer than half of those have received any form of funding.

A particularly troublesome aspect of the Fort Belvoir expansion involves the non-contiguous Mark Center, an office complex several miles from the post that will house 6,400 employees from 23 Defense Department agencies now operating in leased facilities throughout the National Capital region.

Consisting of two large office towers, one 15 stories and the other 17 stories, this facility is located about six miles south of the Pentagon near the Seminary Road intersection with I-395, one of the most congested traffic corridors in the country.

“Queues of traffic from the Seminary Road ramps will back up onto I-395 and compound delays for military workers and other travelers,” the committee members predict.

About $12 million in transportation improvements are being built, according to defense spokeswoman Air Force Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan. Army officials are considering another $20 million worth of short- and mid-term improvements approved by state and local officials.

The researchers also determined that another Army base in the Washington area, Fort Meade, Md., is targeted for a major population increase that could swamp the capacity of state and county roads serving the installation.

Included in the projected increase are 5,700 military and civilian employees and contractors involved in the relocation of the Defense Information Systems Agency, Defense/Military Adjudication Activities and the Defense Media Activity.

The National Security Agency also is expected to add 14,000 employees in the coming years, so that by 2015 Fort Meade may grow by 22,000 military, civilian and contractor personnel, a 50 percent increase over current employment at the base.

The research committee concluded that the probable addition of 22,000 commuters to the area will result in already congested roads “becoming even more clogged with traffic, with adverse effects on the regional economy and excessive delays to military and other commuters.”

Under the BRAC mandate of 2005, Fort Lewis and the adjacent McChord Air Force Base have been consolidated for installation management purposes as Joint Base Lewis-McChord, one of 12 such bases in the Defense Department.

Located on south Puget Sound, the installation is home to some 30 units of all services, and supports a military community of 130,000 service members, civilian employees, contractors and family members.

While BRAC moves are not expected to have a major impact on the post, other programs related to the increase in the size of the Army, the modular redesign of combat forces and the relocation of certain overseas forces are expected to add more than 23,000 soldiers and dependents to the post by 2015, according to projections.

The academy researchers determined that 80 percent of the traffic to and from the joint base occurs on I-5, a major north-south highway that already is operating at full capacity.

Because of the growing population at Fort Lewis, and the return of thousands of forces from Iraq, “it is not unusual for a formerly 40-minute commute between Tacoma and Olympia to take 90 minutes or more,” the committee reported.

“Backups of I-5 of three to nine miles or more starting at 6 a.m. have become the rule.”

Seeking short-term solutions

Defense Department policy generally calls for state and local communities to fund their own road improvements. Exceptions are made under the Defense Access Road program, under which federal funds are available if traffic at least doubles in the local community.

But that criterion is unrealistic in large metropolitan areas, the committee report noted. In addition, funding under the DAR program is limited to road improvements, even though public transit is essential in some areas.

While military authorities are seeking federal transportation funds for projects that could alleviate some of the problems over the long term, short-term solutions have involved such actions as improving the timing of traffic signals, and increasing the number of crews responding to accidents and disabled vehicles.

Staff writer Karen Jowers contributed to this story.